Meeting Your Heroes
by The Soul Soldier
Summary: Basically we're hanging out with the Horsemen after NYSM and hashing out their inner-team problems and seeing what SHIELD thinks of the Horsemen's tricks they pulled. Drama, angst, and physical whump! READ IT I DARE YOU! T for swearing
1. Chapter 1

**Let's do this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.  
**

"I don't think this is a good idea, guys," Jack said as he paced around their small living room for the hundredth time.

After being inducted into the Eye of Horus, the Four Horsemen had gone into hiding for safety reasons – safety for the Eye at least. They could hardly handle being so idle after a full year of mindboggling shows, adrenalin-fueled FBI chases, and magic that was more than what they had ever wanted or imagined. They ended up stuffed away in a tiny cabin in Vermont-basically-Canada with the lock thrown away like a secret locked onto the Pont des Arts over the Seine. Dylan Rhodes had told them they were to 'stay put' until further notice and that they would 'know what to do when the time came'.

J. Daniel Atlas had went from awed to pissed in two seconds flat after being told they weren't going to be shown any 'real' magic until the Four Horsemen were no longer FBI's most wanted and had been even more of a pain in the ass to live with than regular during the past five months in the cabin. Feeding off of Daniel's condescending persona he had revamped over the past four months, Henley Reeves was a fireball of white hot remarks that gave third degree burns while she was in the same room as Daniel. Henley knew she was being undeservedly bitchy to Merritt and Jack and tried to avoid Daniel as much as possible and instead hung out and exchanged lewd jokes and jabs with Merritt. Merritt McKinney was going insane with how little he had to observe here in this little cabin. He felt as if he knew each member of the Four Horsemen more than they did – if his observations were right, which they usually were – and was getting bored of napping and was running out of jokes and pick up lines for Henley. Jack Wilder - after figuring out it wouldn't be any fun to be in Daniels' presence for the near future - was running out of targets to slice. He had already read every book in the cabin; practiced every illusion he knew every day and still had ten hours of daylight to kill; and had even consented to letting Henley teach him a few tricks of her own. He was going insane with the inability to learn and had taken to googling random topics and learning about those – anything to keep from letting his mind wander.

"We really shouldn't do this," Jack reiterated during another lap of the living room.

Henley fidgeted with her gloves a bit and said bitingly, "You can stay here."

Jack's eyes widened and he said, "No, no, you know that I don't –"

"And leave the stupid kid here? He'll find a way to attract the FBI, Ms. Reeves," Daniel snapped, interrupting Jack and not even sparing the youngest member of the Four Horsemen and look nor thought as he ripped apart 'his biggest fan'.

"Aw, c'mon ya' dick, he's done nothing but perform beautifully this past year and you can't pull your head out of your ass long enough to see he can take care of himself. He's a big boy now," Merritt drawled from the couch.

"Oh he can, can he? Great, that's just great. Let's just leave the big boy here and he can answer more phones with blocked numbers and get us roped into meeting with apparently a group more big and bad than the FBI," Daniel spat out. He spoke quickly in the way he did when he was convinced he was right and was getting annoyed that you weren't agreeing with him.

"Look, I said I was sorry, Daniel –" Jack started.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, kid!" Daniel said. "If, for some reason, this causes me to lose my one road to real magic and rendered this whole past year meaningless it is on your head and you can bet I'll take it out on your ass."

Jack exhaled loudly and dropped onto a recliner with a grumble and didn't even bother trying to defend himself. It hurt that someone he had idolized so long turned out to be such a big dick and made him feel like such an idiot. Someone smart had once said that it was never wise to actually meet your heroes…it looked like they were right. Through the big year of their 'test', as Jack referred to it, they had had to move quickly and never had long to spend much time together as a team except during rehearsal during which Jack had only glimpsed Daniel's true colors. Now they were in full view and Daniel couldn't – or wouldn't – stop himself from taking every available shot at Jack. It hurt a lot.

"What can the harm be, Daniel? Let's just go! Nothing's happening here. The dude said he just wanted to meet," Merritt continued from the couch, pulling his hat over his eyes.

"People lie," Henley said plainly.

"We're not going," Daniel replied with a scathing glare in Jack and Henley's direction and turned sharply on his heel to _get_ _out _of that room leaving behind a man who made himself new after his hardships in life, a woman who used her life experiences to build a shield around her, and a boy who was left broken from his lot in life.

**AVENGERS BAM!**

"You're kidding me," Clint said as he looked up at Nat from his spot on a couch in SHIELD HQ.

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask 'does it look like I'm kidding you?'

"Oh my God you're not kidding me!" Clint said accusingly as he slammed down the book he was reading to get up and pace, complain, fight, _anything._ _Not more magic freaks! _He thought. After his round with Loki he had had quite enough magic to last him his lifetime.

"They should be coming in the next few days," Natasha said. "You don't have to interact with them at all, if you don't want to."

"And I sure as hell won't," Clint assured her.

From a distance Coulson and Fury stood and watched the interaction. "Why would you tell Ms. Romanoff about the Four Horsemen?" Fury asked icily.

"I figured if anyone would be able to stand against them and their tricks it would have to be Natasha," Coulson replied calmly and confidently.

**Ta da! What'd you guys think? **

**Ok so this is obviously a Now You See Me/Avengers crossover. I'm not sure what pairings may or may not crop up but you can be sure there will be lots of angst, drama, and possibly a healthy dose of bodily whump! Yeah buddy!**

**Review, live long and prosper! **

**Peace Out Girl Scout!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Let's do this.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

"I thought you said they were coming today," Natasha stated flatly to Coulson.

"They were. The fact that they didn't worries me a little bit. They would be useful allies. Did you read the information I gave you?" The last question could almost be labeled rhetoric: Natasha was thorough in everything she did – of course she read the file.

Natasha nodded nonetheless and asked, "What is Fury's plan here? I can't see the Board of Directors getting behind any decision like this."

Coulson acknowledged her statement with a tilt of his head and motioned for Natasha to sit with him at the table he was currently drinking Earl Grey Tea and doing some inconsequential work on. "Fury thinks the Horsemen, and whoever is backing them, will take a deal."

"We offer amnesty for their crimes in exchange for their allegiance?" Natasha asked, quickly catching on as she gracefully sat across from Coulson in the helicarriers recreational room which was currently empty except for the two of them.

Coulson tilted his head again as he continued marking papers and reading reports, "Something like that. Fury seems to think that the chances of keeping them in any sort of prison very long are too low to even attempt it and instead thinks there is something to be gained from them and their…talents."

Natasha hummed in agreement and leaned back in her chair as she watched Coulson work. She liked Coulson: he was loyal and persistent but he always stood up for what he believed to be right and true. If he wasn't that way Nat would not be here today. Sure it was Clint who originally stayed his arrow from piercing her skull but when he reported back to Coulson that he wanted to give her a chance it was Coulson who really made the decision. If Coulson had told Clint to forget and just kill her Clint wouldn't have hesitated again. For this she owed Coulson.

After a comfortable pause Natasha asked, "Why are you not in your office doing work?"

"A change of scenery was needed," came the quiet reply.

**Page Break*I'M SO FAB*Page Break**

**merritt**

Shortly after Daniel had stormed from the room Henley stood as well from the arm of the couch and stalked out the living room. The slam of the back door signaled her departure into the cold winter day. Merritt could practically taste the depression rolling off of the kid slouching in the chair across the room and refused to look at him. Merritt really did feel for the kid; he was smart, funny, and knew his way around a poker face better than Henley or Daniel did – he just picked horrible people to look up to. This wasn't why Merritt wouldn't look at him though.

Merritt's ability to read body language and the story behind it was amazing and almost always spot on but he sometimes felt guilty about it. Sometimes people just need a little privacy. He felt like if he looked at Jack now, after obviously being hurt by Daniel so constantly these past few months, he would be barging in on the boy when he had no right to. Everyone knew Jack grew up on the street and in the slums and they all knew he had some pretty twisted stuff he wasn't sharing with anyone. As a result Jack had a shield around him at all times – a mask. He laughed and made jokes and acted lighthearted and everybody bought it – everybody but Merritt. He could see the laughter was always a little _too _forced, the smile after his jokes were always a little delayed, his smile was always a little _too _shallow to convince Merritt that Jack was as happy as he portrayed. Merritt felt that if he looked at Jack now the mask would be cracked and Merritt will find out more than Jack would ever want and it would break Jack.

So Merritt kept his head beneath his hat and said, "Well, since we're not goin' anywhere right now…you want to learn something?"

**jack**

"…you want to learn something?" Merritt asked.

Jack looked up from his hands where he was twisting a card over and over, the corners getting dog eared and ripped. Jack, though young, was very observant and had known that Merritt wasn't asleep but had also known Merritt's eyes were not on him and so had allowed himself to slip into a moment of self-pity. Jack grunted a bit and put the card up his sleeve, straightened up and shook his head a bit. That was quite enough of that. "Uh, sure why not?"

"Alright, check this out," Merritt said as he sat up and pulled a square piece of paper from his jacket. "We're going to do a little origami."

Jack didn't say anything and watched carefully as Merritt folded the paper in meticulous angles and smiled genuinely; this was amazing, this was art, this was learning – and it distracted him.

Merritt saw the smile and was satisfied.

**henley**

Henley grumbled to herself as she walked towards the woods behind the cabin and angrily kicked a rock into the gloomy shadows the trees cast. Daniel was so efficient at getting under her skin it made her feel like bashing her head against a wall – or his. Usually she could handle it and let his stupid comments slide but when he started tearing into Jack it really set her off. Not that she had been any better: she had snapped at Jack as well. She felt horrible about it but shrugged it off as Daniel getting under her skin for the billionth time.

Henley figured that they really needed to figure out how to operate as a team because the Eye had recruited them as a team, not individually, and as long as they weren't acting like a team she doubted the Eye would be very forthcoming with them. She needed to get through to Daniel and tell him to lay off of Jack and start being a team player – even though his whole life he had always acted for his gain and his alone. She needed to get Jack to grow a pair and start standing up for himself against Daniel. Sure Daniel had been his hero while growing up but now he had to face the truth: Daniel's a dick and probably isn't going to change anytime soon. She needed Merritt with her on this because he was her rock in this whole mess. She could always fall back on him for a good laugh. Henley also knew she too, like Jack, just needed to stick it to Daniel and tell him how it is.

With a final scathing glare in the general direction of the forest Henley turned and walked back into the house to find Daniel.

While on her way upstairs where she had seen Daniel disappear Henley happened to glance into the living room again and caught Jack with his head thrown back in a delighted laugh – like a little kid – and Merritt smiling at the kid as he sarcastically held out a tiny origami rose.

Henley smiled and was glad that she wasn't the only who felt like Jack could use a friend.

She shook her head to break herself out of her musings to walk upstairs and to Daniels room where she knew she would find the brooding man. When Henley came to the door she didn't bother knocking and just walked in.

"Why?" she asked flatly.

"Be more specific," Daniel said from his perch on his windowsill, one leg hanging out into the void between the ground and him. The room was frigid with the cold air he was letting in.

Henley glared even though Daniel wasn't looking and convinced herself he could feel it. She flicked on the lights to reveal the rooms' immaculate mien. The hardwood floor was spotless and the rugs were angled from each other _just so, _the books he kept in his room stacked neatly on his nightstand and his many decks of cards arranged on the table in some pattern indiscernible to Henley. "Why are you doing this?" she asked as she waved her hand vaguely in Daniel's direction. "Why are you acting like this?"

"How am I acting Henley? Surely not any differently than before," he shot quickly as he hopped off the windowsill and stalked towards her. Henley held her ground and lifted her chin. In her four inch heels she was currently wearing Daniel wasn't much taller than her and she refused to be intimidated. She had known Daniel too long now to still be intimidated.

"Not that you're any gentleman but you've really been extraordinarily vicious lately and it is going to tear us apart," Henley stated coolly. She needed to keep her cool with this. If she revealed how frustrated she really was Daniel would use it to goad her into a useless argument that would get them nowhere.

"Tear us apart?" Daniel parroted. "Tear us apart? Surely you mean 'us' as in the Horsemen. Well, newsflash Henley: we're not exactly a good team. We were never really a good fit. While we were actually working and moving it was fine but now it's clear that we are not a team."

"But that's how the Eye wants us, Daniel," Henley replied a little exasperated. "They didn't recruit _you!_ They recruited _us:_ the Horsemen."

Daniel shook his head and replied with a quick, "They should have."

He walked over to his bed and fell onto it with a dramatic swing of his arms.

"But they didn't. Why can't you at least try to make this a little easier on everyone and stop being such an insufferable prick all the time?" Henley continued in her rant. She wasn't going to let this go easily. She was getting irritated with her situation and was determined to change it because she knew no one was going to do it for her.

Daniel didn't answer and instead rolled over to face the wall instead of Henley. He dragged a hand through his dark hair and ignored her.

Henley continued without a pause, "Especially with Jack. Why are you treating him like this? All he does is look up to you and you tear him down again and again. I'm surprised he hasn't just up and left yet. He _admires you,_ Daniel!"

"I never asked him to!" Daniel replied, suddenly sitting up in his bed and returning the evil eye Henley was giving him from across the room.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Henley demanded.

Daniel sneered at Henley to cover his slip in composure and said, "Never mind. Just forget it – and leave my room before you break something."

"Daniel," Henley protested but Daniel had stopped paying attention and grabbed a book from his nightstand. "You know, you're going to end up sad and alone Daniel Atlas," she stated in a calmly threatening voice as a last ditch effort.

Daniel didn't look up.

**Ok, so you know who I like? Natasha. Yup. It's true. Ok, so no reviews yet but what can I do but keep writing? I appreciate the one favorite/follow combo from one dude. I can't find your name right now but you know who you are. Go you, my friend, go you.**

**Zai jian, wo de peng yo**


	3. Chapter 3

**And the story shall continue. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

_**Katie the anonymous reviewer**_**: thank you so much for the review, darling! Your wish is granted and here is the next chapter! If you had an account I probably would have PMed you but you don't so I have to resort to displaying my thanks via story advertisement. **

**Tony and Clint are bros in this AU**

"I think that's adorable," Tony remarked with an ironic eyebrow raise at the screen where Clint's face was being displayed. After the Manhattan debacle with Loki had blown over Tony had given Clint a Stark Phone and told him to 'keep in touch'.

Clint rolled his eyes and said, "Well, it doesn't matter how adorable you think it is: they didn't show."

"I agree completely with their pass on meeting with SHIELD but I will take it as a personal insult that they didn't come here to regal me with their 'magic'," Tony said flippantly. He pressed a hand over his heart in a dramatic expression of hurt. After he saw Clint wasn't buying it at all he turned his back to the screen to start fidgeting with the holographic blue prints to the latest Ironman model.

"I'm just not sure I agree with taking them on as agents for SHIELD," Clint said, ignoring the jab at the agency he worked for. "What do they bring to the table? I mean really?"

"Let's find out," Tony said. He pulled up a screen into the area in front of him and angled it so Clint could see as well. After playing with the settings and making the screen enlarge he pulled up a video of the highlights from the Horsemen's first and second shows.

Five minutes into the montage of the four magicians performing amazing stunts Tony said, "That is damned impressive," pointing to the paused screen of the youngest man throwing what appeared to be little playing cards across theaters to slice through various pencils held up in the audience. Tony figured the cards must have been treated with some sort of shellac to harden them up a little more.

"Oh c'mon Tony, you must have figured out all of those stunts before they were even finished. There's no real talent here!" Clint insisted as he watched the girl with the red hair jump into the bubble and float over the audience – held up by wires, Clint supposed.

"While I would usually agree full heartedly with your assumption of my general awesomeness in the brain department," Tony began while wagging a finger in the general direction of the screen Clint was on, "some of these tricks I'm still working out."

"You're not seriously saying you don't know how something as simple as _fake magic _works, are you Tony Stark?" Clint asked half teasing half incredulously.

Tony whipped around in his swivel chair and said petulantly, "I'll figure it out soon enough! Don't you worry, simpleton, I could do these tricks just as easily as they can and probably with more charm, too."

"Yeah, ok, Tony," Clint said, "I'll leave you to figure those out: some people have real jobs they have to do."

Tony just waved dismissively and clicked on more videos.

Twenty minutes later he was watching tutorials on how to dress up pet bunnies and that is how Pepper found him an hour later: watching cat videos.

"Such is the nature of YouTube!" Tony tried defending himself but Pepper just rolled her eyes.

**Henley and the Crew!**

"I don't even know what that means," Merritt replied as Henley and Jack stood side by side in the living room looking down at Merritt on his usual place sprawled out across the couch.

"You mean you've never – I can't – I can't," Jack stuttered.

Merritt looked to Henley who looked equally shocked and asked sarcastically, "Did I break him?"

"You didn't break him, you broke the world! How can you live your entire life and never see Mean Girls?!" Henley exclaimed.

"If it makes you feel any better I have also never seen that other really popular chick flick movie that recently came out…what was it called?" Merritt said.

"Don't say it," Henley cried, covering her ears, "Don't say it, don't say it!"

"Pitch Perfect! That's the one!" Merritt said triumphantly, oblivious to Henley and Jack's distress.

Jack looked just about ready to faint and Henley looked like she was seconds from beating Merritt up. "A movie night is obviously and _desperately _in need," Henley said with finality. Jack nodded his agreement as Henley ran to grab the keys to the car they had been given and raced out the door to get to the nearest Blockbuster saying, "I'll be right back!"

"Get popcorn!" Jack yelled after her.

"And those little chocolate covered pretzels!" Merritt added, "White chocolate!" he tacked on as an afterthought.

Jack sighed dramatically as he deposited himself onto the recliner to gaze at Merritt quizzically. "How did you manage never seeing those movies?" He asked finally.

"I have a better question, kid, where did you see those movies?" Merritt asked. For a kid living on the street it was hard to imagine Jack snuggling up for a Friday movie night watching chick flicks.

Merritt realized his mistake in alluding to Jack's past a second too late and couldn't take it back as he watched Jack's face.

But the kid's expression didn't change. Either he was a better liar than Merritt had realized or he really hadn't minded the question at all. Either way Merritt hadn't imagined the next words to come out of Jack's mouth at all.

"Ah, well," he said as he seemed to blush a little, "well I happened to be with this girl and the electricity cut out for a like a split second, I swear, and the girl got so freaked. She wouldn't let me leave and so we ended up having a chick flick marathon."

"Seriously?" Merritt asked incredulously. He could see something a little off in the way Jack shifted at the end of the story and knew there was more to it than that but had already made the decision he wouldn't press any details from the kid he wasn't already willing to give.

"I am not even kidding you," Jack said as he shook his head with a small grin.

…

"Alright, movie time," Henley smiled as she walked into the cabin holding three movies and a grocery bag of snacks. "Jack, can you go grab some pillows and blankets? I have extras in my room."

"Got it," he said as he bounded up the stairs only to stop halfway and say, "Should I tell Daniel?"

Merritt and Henley shared a look and Henley said, "You don't have to say anything, just get the stuff and I'll ask Daniel if he wants to come down."

"I'll put in the movies," Merritt volunteered.

…

Halfway through the second movie with Jack and Henley leaning against each other on the floor and Merritt still on the couch Henley saw Daniel pad quietly and softly into the room and sit on the recliner without saying a word. While this wasn't much, it was a step in the right direction.

**Alright guys, here's another chapter! I hope you guys like it!**

**I'd like to take this moment to thank the people who favorite and reviewed this story! **

**Ciao**


	4. Chapter 4

**Shout outs to: , johncorn, Satisfactory Revenge, Funus Nex, Miss Emeralds, nats10823! Thank you to all of you who favorited and followed this story. I really appreciate the support, guys! Also, I do apologize for the inconsistent updates guys. You can count on the guarantee that there will always be at least one update per week but sometimes I really get into it and can pump out chapters two and sometimes even three days in a row. I hope that doesn't frustrate you guys too much. More shout outs at the bottom of the story…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

**jack**

Jack sighed. They were fighting again. He could hear them yelling at each other downstairs and he hated it. They fought _all the time. _He wasn't sure what they were always arguing about but he had had enough arguing in his life and it grated on his nerves to listen to more of it. It wasn't like he could just leave the room either: you could hear them throughout the whole cabin.

Jack sat up from his bed and looked across the room to his leather jacket. He could leave. He left often during the night, actually. He would stay out on the town performing magic or hanging out in the clubs. Every once in a while he would get in just a little deeper than he meant too – drinking despite being underage, playing escort to a few ladies who paid for the time – but he always got home before everyone else was up to hide back in his room and lock the door for the rest of the day saying he was feeling a little sick. He only ever stayed out for the night, of course: the Horsemen weren't allowed to leave this tiny town's limits, but he was sure he could raise some excitement somewhere tonight.

A particularly loud screech, most likely from an exasperated Henley, pierced through the walls and Jack picked up his jacket and walked out the room.

Halfway down the stairs Jack thought better of walking past the kitchen, where Henley and Daniel were fighting, and instead hopped out the window on the landing of the stairs. He would be back sooner or later.

**coulson **

It had been another long day at work for Coulson and all he wanted to do was get some Earl Grey Tea and relax in his SHIELD issued bed in his SHIELD provided room aboard the helicarrier. Usually Coulson worked from SHIELD's headquarters in Washington D.C. and lived in his apartment there but there had recently been some disturbances in the atmosphere that hadn't been explained and as such Fury had requested Coulson to board the vessel to be nearer to himself and Thor who had also recently come back from Asgard.

Just as Phil was walking down towards the bunks and separate rooms for higher ranking agents such as himself he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and flipped it open to see a call from Fury. Whenever Fury called Coulson and immediately hung up it meant that he wanted Coulson in his office ASAP. Coulson sighed but turned smartly on his heel anyway and headed towards Fury's office.

"What's going on?" Clint's voice sounded out from above Coulson.

"I don't know yet," Coulson replied calmly and without missing a beat as Clint swung down from the ceiling to fall in step beside Coulson.

"Where're you going?" he asked.

"Fury's office."

"It's about the magicians, isn't it?" Clint said. Coulson could tell, after years of being Clint's mentor, friend, coworker, and handler that Clint wasn't convinced that this was a good, let alone sane, endeavor.

Coulson just tilted his head and gave a noncommittal hum as he continued on his way. He really should have known Clint hadn't just dropped in to ask him where he was going – there was an ulterior motive. Whenever Clint wanted to know something without really asking the question directly he would start messing with his clothes and watch and bow. Natasha was much better at hiding ulterior motives.

Sure enough, not seconds later, Clint shrugged his shoulders and fidgeted with the hem of the black t-shirt he was wearing and said, "It's not a good idea," the same time that Coulson said, "It will be fine."

"How can you know that?" Clint asked as he adjusted his sunglasses which were hooked to the front of his shirt.

"Clint, do you trust me?" Clint nodded, "Even if I gave you a seemingly impossible mission, would you still do it – because I told you to?"

"Of course I would," Clint confirmed.

"I hold that same trust in Fury, Clint, and if Fury thinks this is a good idea then I'm just going to have to trust him as you would trust me," Coulson answered.

Clint shook his head a bit as if to say, 'I'm still not convinced,' but instead said, "That was pretty deep."

Coulson smirked and continued towards Fury's office.

…

_Riiiiiiing_

_Riiiiiiiiing_

_Riiiiiiiiiiing_

Coulson looked up at Fury at the third ring of the phone with an eyebrow cocked in an expression that said, 'This won't work.'

Fury returned the look as the fourth ring sounded through the room on the speaker of the phone.

_Riiiiiiiiii– _

"_What?!" _a voice rang out from the speaker in what sounded like exasperation or maybe even frustration.

"Hello," Coulson replied calmly, "This is Phil Coulson from SHIELD. I'm just making a follow up call to see if and when we should reschedule our meeting."

In the background a voice could faintly be heard saying, _"Henley, we are _not _going."_

A short bang and a yelp followed the statement and then the speaker, Henley apparently, replied, _"We'd love to," _there was a pause as another muffled grunt came from the background and she said, _"Where and when?"_

Coulson looked up as Fury wrote down a date for him to repeat and said, "Does the tenth work?" He listened for the confirmation on the other end of the line and then said, "We can send someone to pick you up, if that would make it easier."

"_Henley – Henley, no!" _could be heard and then the voice in the foreground said, _"That sounds perfect."_

"We look forward to meeting you," Coulson said, wrapping it up.

**Henley&Daniel**

"_We look forward to meeting you," _The man who had identified himself as Coulson said, ending the call.

Henley put down the phone and whipped around to face Daniel. She was already beyond angry before the agent had called. Daniel had picked another fight with her – or did she pick the fight with him? – and she was ready to pull her hair out. She didn't even remember what they had been fighting about but she did know that they were so good, too good, at getting on each other's nerves and things were getting tenser lately. Jack had been spending more time alone in his room and Merritt was even beginning to get a little snippy with Henley and Daniel with all their arguing.

"No," Daniel said before she could get a word out.

"You know what? You don't have to come," Henley shot back, knowing it would set him off. He was too much of a control freak to let his so-called 'team' go off to meet with a government agency without him but he was also too proud to go back on his previous declaration that they wouldn't go to see SHIELD.

Daniel narrowed his eyes, "Well I can't very well let you go by yourselves."

"I'm sure we could handle ourselves," Henley spat, turning on her heel to find Merritt and Jack to tell them they would be leaving in a few days.

Daniel scoffed and folded his arms, arguing with himself over his need to be with his team or to hold fast to his word, and followed Henley up the stairs. On the one hand he really wanted to make sure that they were all taken care of and not in any trouble – it was his responsibility as self-appointed head of the Horsemen – and on the other hand he didn't want to contradict himself. He had already thought of all the pros and cons of this situation and decided it would be better to just ignore the government agency and stay on the good side of Dylan Rhodes and the Eye. "What will Dylan say if we just disappear, Henley? What then?" He asked.

"We won't tell Dylan," Henley stated matter-of-factly as she continued up the stairs. She knocked on the door to Merritts room and stuck her head in, "Merritt," she said, making sure he acknowledged her before continuing, "We're going to see that SHIELD agency in a few days."

"Sweet," Merritt replied, sending her a sly grin from across the room. He saw Daniel leaned against the wall outside his room with his arms crossed and sent him a sarcastic wave, "You comin', dickhead?"

Daniel made a face and said, "Well I can't just let you go by yourself. You'd probably, you'd probably, I don't know…" he trailed off as Henley skipped down the hall towards Jack's room.

"Jack!" Henley called, "Jaaaaack!" she called again. She knocked on the door as she had with Merritt but when it swung open on her first knock she walked in, assuming he was on his bed reading or practicing magic. "Jack?" she asked when she didn't see him. "Guys, where's Jack?"

"What do you mean, 'Where's Jack?'" Daniel asked.

"I mean he's not here so is he downstairs or something?" Henley clarified, her eyes widening a little worriedly.

"Well, he was here just a few seconds ago," Daniel reasoned as he walked back down the stairs, Merritt and Henley in tow.

"Did you open this window, Daniel?" Henley asked as they walked down the stairs.

"What? No, of course not," Daniel said, flapping his hand in her general direction. "Jack?" he called.

"I don't think he's here," Merritt said walking through the arch into the living room.

"Well he barely ever leaves this house, I mean he doesn't even like to go get the groceries," Henley said.

"Ok, where is the kid?" Daniel finally asked.

**Lol I totally exposed Jack. You're in trouble boy!**

**MEEVA E: I can probably get some Daniel whump in there somewhere, definitely! And thank you for reading this story! Spread the word and thanks for the review!**

**Meow: Ok Meow, I'm just going to say that it's really awesome that someone from Israel was all like, "Yeah, let's read some American's fanfiction and then comment on it like a total boss!" Thanks for the reviews! There probably won't be any Jack/Daniel solely because I want Daniel and Henley to make up at some point and I also don't know how to write smut because my version of flirting is basically me saying, "Dude you are one fine piece of man," and then running a safe distance. Also, I haven't seen House of Anubis but that can easily be fixed so I'll see what I can do!**

**Yello: Thank you so much for your review, my man! And your wish is my command: here is the next chapter!**

**Adios**


	5. Chapter 5

**Woooaaah! I'm an unpredictable mofo! Here's another chapter for you lovely people. I will be getting to the Avengers soon but this chapter will more be focusing on the Horsemen because we obviously have to address Jack sneaking out and then we can get on with some team heart to heart or maybe some fists or something, idk, and then we can get to the Avengers when the meeting day draws nearer. **

**WARNING: I use a bad word in this chapter. Not that probably any of you actually care. But I feel I need to tell you anyway. **

**I would like to thank our dearest Miss Emeralds for pointing out a horrible mistake in the last chapter. Luckily she caught the mistake only about an hour after the chapter went up and I was easily able to fix the issue. Thanks girl! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

**Daniel, Henley, Merritt**

"This is getting ridiculous," Daniel muttered as he walked beside Merritt down the fifth city block that night. It seemed like they had small but popular mom-and-pop bars on every street corner and churches on every other – it was crazy.

As soon as it was confirmed that Jack was definitely _not _in the house Henley had immediately started worrying and was halfway out the door before Merritt or Daniel could say a word.

_**Flashback!**_

"_We have to look for him," Henley said as she rushed out the door, her red hair whipping behind her as she grabbed her hat off the coat rack in the corner._

"_Now wait a minute."_

_Henley turned on Merritt and Daniel, a response ready on her lips to tear Daniel's comment to shreds only to be stopped short in surprise to realize it was Merritt who spoke, not Daniel. "What?" She hissed._

"_He's a kid, Henley, he's probably just out for a little fun after being cooped up in here with us for the past few months," Merritt reasoned with her. _

"_Exactly, Merritt!" She exclaimed, "A kid! He's _just a kid!_ Do you have any idea how old he is?"_

_Merritt threw his hands in the air and said, "I don't know, darlin', he's gotta be at least – what? – twenty-five? Twenty-six?" _

_Henley shook her head angrily and wrung her gloved hands, "He's not even old enough to be legally drinking."_

"_What?!" This time it _was _Daniel who had spoken. During the year they were under instruction of the Eye to pull all the bank heists and whatnot there had been plenty celebratory nights out on the town, plenty of congratulatory drinks and toasts. "Are you seriously telling me I've bought drinks for a bloody minor?" _

_Henley narrowed her eyes at Daniel and said, "He's not a minor: he's just not old enough to be drinking yet, you empty headed prick."_

"_I still say we just let him be: we'll see him tomorrow and I'll talk to him if it makes you feel better, petal," Merritt tried comforting Henley, putting a hand on her shoulder only for it to be shoved off._

"_No. I want him home _now,"_ she growled dangerously. "He could be in trouble or could easily get into a lot of trouble. What if someone takes advantage of him?"_

"_Henley, he knows how to handle himself on the street –" Daniel started._

"_I want him home, Daniel," Henley glared lasers. Henley gasped as she came to another realization, "What if he left for good, Daniel? What if he's gone?1" _

"_Alright, alright," Merritt placated, "Why don't you stay here in case he comes back and Daniel and I will go looking for him."_

**End flashback**

Henley hadn't agreed easily to that but was eventually convinced it was for the best. Merritt and Daniel would go out and would be able to handle any situation that occurred if it did turn out Jack was in trouble – which Daniel highly doubted was the case, especially after an encounter with a young, beautiful girl in the first bar they had been in.

_**Another Flashback!**_

"_I don't even know why we're looking for him," Daniel said as they walked towards the first bar they had spotted after driving into town. It was a small corner bar but looked completely full with the fluorescent lights outside spelling "SWOVY'S" glowing brightly. "He's probably just fine."_

"_I agree but we still should at least check on him," Merritt said as they walked into the bar. _

_As soon as they stepped foot into the small, crowded bar they could tell Jack wasn't there. Daniel turned to leave but Merritt grabbed his elbow and said, "We should ask around to see if he's been here."_

_Daniel nodded and said, "Do you have a picture of him or something?"_

_Merritt shook his head but walked up to a pretty, young blonde woman leaning against the bar talking to another young woman. "Excuse me miss," He said, sliding smoothly into the stool next to her._

"_Sorry, I'm here with people," She replied shortly._

"_Ah, don't worry, petal, this will just take a second," He said, making sure she turned to face him again before speaking again. "We were wondering if you have seen a young man who's about 5'7", brown hair, brown eyes? He was probably wearing a black leather jacket."_

"_Um, I'm sorry, I don't think so," She replied hesitantly. _

"_Wait," he friend sitting next to her chimed in. "Is he _really _good at poker?"_

"_Yeah," Daniel said, supposing the boy had to be good considering he was a phenomenal sleight-of-hand magician, "Have you seen him?"_

"_I think they're talking about Jax," the second girl said to the blond girl. _

"_Oh my god!" the blond exclaimed, "Yeah," she said turning back to Merritt, "He comes here all the time but usually he's more downtown."_

"_He's so hot," the second girl breathed._

"_Tell him Macy and Sophia say hey," the blond spoke again._

"_Thanks," Daniel said with a quirk of his eyebrow as he dragged Merritt out of SWOVY'S back into the cold night. It was starting to snow now and Daniel just wanted to find the kid so they could head back to the nice, cozy, warm cabin. _

_As soon as they were out the door they started towards the car and Daniel said, "Correct me if I'm wrong, Merritt, but she just said, '_he comes here _all the time' right?"_

"_I've never seen him leave the house," Merritt said but then sighed, frustrated. "Let's go."_

**End flashback**

When Daniel finally spotted Jack in the seventh bar they had checked that night Henley had already called three times and they had also already searched a few parks they had come across to see if he had been performing in the park. There had been absolutely no luck until now and it was nearing midnight. Not a trace of the boy and Daniel was sure he was going to have to amputate his fingers from frostbite.

Daniel tapped Merritt's shoulder and pointed inside the next bar through a large window, glowing psychedelically. Through the window they could see Jack – or Jax, as everyone in town who had recognized the description had referred to him as – throw his head back and laugh as the pretty girl on his arm downed a shot. There was a little crowd gathered around the pair, telling Daniel and Merritt the boy was performing. "Well, we found him," Daniel said as he turned to walk back to the car.

"Hey, hey, hey," Merritt said, "Henley said she wanted him home."

"Aw, c'mon," Daniel said, motioning towards Jack, "He looks fine – better than fine. Just leave him. He obviously comes out here a lot more often than we thought and we didn't even have a clue. If you ask me that means he can handle himself."

"Well it's a good thing nobody asked you then," Merritt said as he stepped into the bar.

"Merritt!" Daniel called after him, "Merritt – c'mon! Fine! Fine. Let's just barge in here but," he said grabbing Merritt's arm and sitting him down at a table, rubbing his hands together, "Let the kid just finish his show, ok? It'll do no one any good to pull him out of a show suddenly, especially if he thinks we still don't know he frequents the town."

Merritt grumbled but stayed sitting down, signaling his agreement. The bar was thinning out from earlier, leaving only the hardcore party animals which still kept the bar impressively busy at this time. The crowd cheered and applauded along with Jack's tricks as Merritt and Daniel waited as patiently as the two men could in their chairs sipping water that had been on the table.

Eventually a waitress walked by the table and asked, "Is there something I can get you two gentlemen?"

Merritt waved her off but Daniel said, "I don't need anything but what can you tell me about that young man up there?"

"Jax?" The girl asked. "He's amazing, right? He's a magician – if you haven't figured that out yourself already. Well, he comes down here all the time, always attracting a crowd."

"Huh," Daniel said, "How long does he usually stay down here? I mean," he quickly added at seeing the face she was giving him, "I mean it just seems a little weird that he would perform this long."

The girl nodded as if understanding and said, "Well he doesn't always perform – at least not like that. Some nights he just comes in to get shitfaced like everyone else and some nights he's escorting."

Daniel looked questioningly at Merritt as if to say, '_he does what?'_.

"Escorting?" Merritt asked for Daniel, finally speaking up.

The girl looked at the two men, confused, and then she seemed to make up her mind and said, "Yeah, but I've only ever seen him with woman so far so you guys are out of luck." With that she walked back to the bar leaving the two men confused.

…

About thirty minutes later the crowd gave the loudest cheer yet and then seemed to disperse. Daniel shot up quickly, scanning the crowd for Jack, and Merritt, who had been lightly dozing, jerked wide awake and searched the crowd as well.

At the same moment Daniel caught sight of Jack and directed Merritt's attention Jack had just taken yet _another _shot and had caught sight of them as well. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before turning back to the cool, unreadable depths they usually were. Even though he had seen the men he turned his attention away from them, instead focusing on the girl who was nearly collapsed on his arm.

Daniel watched Jack mouth something in the girls' ear and then help her up. Jack walked right past the two men, grabbing the young woman's coat and draping it over her, and out into the night. Daniel got up and motioned for Merritt to follow, sending a quick text to Henley to tell her they were on their way.

Once outside Jack passed the girl off to another girl who appeared to be her friend and turned to face the two men saying hesitantly, "Hey guys."

"Damn right, boy," Merritt grumbled, running his hand through his hair.

"Henley's going to give you an earful as soon as we get back," Daniel commented offhandedly as they started towards the car.

"Yeah, I thought she would," Jack replied neutrally.

The three men walked in silence the whole way back towards the car a few blocks away. Jack was staring silently at the ground, almost sullenly, holding himself stiffly. About a block into the short walk Jack stumbled on the curb and Daniel quickly remembered the numerous drinks the boy had consumed throughout the night – not including the ones he had no doubt had before Merritt and himself had shown up, and reached out an arm to steady the kid only to be roughly shaken off.

"I don't need your help," Jack mumbled plowing on down the sidewalk. Now that Daniel and Merritt noticed it they saw Jack's wavering walk and occasional stumble.

"Hey," Daniel said, catching up with the boy and turning him around with a hand on his shoulder. "Stop being such a diva and –" He wasn't even sure what he had wanted to accomplish with that starter as he was focused solely on the fist flying quickly toward his face. The first punch turned him a good 180 degrees and he skidded a bit on the ice on the sidewalk.

"Kid!" Merritt exclaimed, stepping in to calm him down. Unfortunately Jack knew Merritt's tricks and refused to look the hypnotist in the eye as he continued his way toward Daniel. A well placed kick to Daniel's midsection had him bending over in pain with a hand out to feebly ward off coming blows.

"What the fuck, kid?" Daniel gasped.

Jack ignored the question and instead grasped Daniel's arm that was still thrown in front of him and twisted, flipping him on his back. By this time they were attracting attention. Merritt glanced around, eyes flitting from face to face but eventually settled back on the kid pounding Daniel into the sidewalk hissing, "I. Am not. A kid."

Merritt groaned but threw himself into the fight as well, snagging Jack's arm before he could land another blow. "Get up Daniel, quickly," Merritt commanded. Jesus the kid was skilled – he was drunk and had easily overpowered Daniel. "Hold him."

Daniel scrambled to his feet and grabbed Jack's other arm giving Merritt the opportunity to grasp Jack's chin and force him to look into Merritt's eyes as he said softly, "Sleep."

Jack fell limply into Daniels arms, head rolling back onto his chest. "Get him into the car," Merritt commanded quietly as he turned to face the small crowd that had gathered. "Everything's fine here ladies and gentlemen – no need to worry."

**Back at the home front**

Henley paced the driveway once again, slapping her hands on her thighs absently, and pulling on her hat. Daniel had said they were on their way. After hearing they had found Jack and he was still in one piece she was no long worried – just furious. Why would Jack feel the need to sneak out like that? He could have just said he wanted to go out for once. She would have easily agreed: they had all been cooped up here for way too long. Sure they all had gone wandering and hiking in the woods behind the cabin and had all been down to the little creek once or twice but they were getting _really _stir crazy. Henley would have understood. He didn't have to sneak around the rest of the Horsemen.

Finally – finally! – at two o'clock in the morning she saw the headlights winding their way up the driveway. She was going to give Jack a piece of her mind.

As the car pulled to a stop in front of her she walked quickly to the backseat where she knew they would make Jack sit and opened the door, speech ready, only to be stopped short at the sight of an apparently sleeping Jack. She looked up in confusion to see Merritt waving an exasperated hand tiredly at them and trudging into the house. She turned to Daniel for an explanation to see the man leaning against the car, bruises already forming on his face. "What the hell happened here?" She screeched.

**I would like to thank WolfDarkfur and katewolf2000 for following this story - thanks guys!**

**Meow: Thanks once again for sticking with this story! I probably will end up watching that movie and just to be clear - you want a NYSM and Anubis crossover? I probably can do that...**

**MEEVA E: ok, so he got whumped in this chapter but we won't actually deal with that until the next chapter :) I love anybody getting whumped XD Thanks for the review, love!**

**Aha! Told you guys I update weirdly! Alright I hope you guys like this chapter! Please review that would be awesome! Thanks a lot!**

**Soldier**


	6. Chapter 6

**YOU MUST READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING: ok, hey guys! I just wanted to let you know I went back and fixed a few things in all the chapters and added a few little things – nothing huge – but if you want you could go back and reread – you probs won't even notice the changes. The biggest change I made was that instead of meeting with SHIELD in 'two days' I changed it to 'a few days'. **

**YOU MUST ALSO READ THIS: this chapter is about the Avengers and some obvious things we need to deal with. I need to set some things up for the future of the story because last night, while trying to convince myself to fall asleep, I had a weird image in my head of unlikely people meeting but it can't happen without this chapter, so… Also note that in the future I probably will write an Avengers fic so chill this isn't any canon at all.**

**AND THIS: I totally just realized that I made Coulson live even though he supposedly died in Avengers the movie. Woops. Well I like him so suck it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own hardly anything, really.**

**Loki**

_Silence. Silence. Silence. For leagues and leagues all that could be seen was endless forest. The trees were ancient and loomed over him, casting foreboding shadows. He could see the branches of willow trees and ferns blowing and whipping in the wind, his hair tangling in curly knots over his face. He brushed back the dark locks over and over to keep a watchful eye, for even though the wind blew and whipped and raced through the trees not a sound was made. Nothing could be heard: not the chirp of a bird, not the breaking branches and twigs beneath his feet, and certainly not the crashing, lumbering gaits of the beasts that lived here in the Isle of Silence. In the Isle of Silence, a separate dimension Loki had been sent to as punishment where his 'deceitful' words could never be heard, resided the Trolls. The trolls were uncultured – and not 'uncultured' as the Asgardians had thought the Jutons to be, but truly, purely savage. The trolls ate _everything. _When they came across an old troll, too old to defend itself, it was eaten. When they came across a young troll, too young to defend itself and left days after it's' birth, it was eaten. How the Trolls hadn't killed themselves off after these long millennia was certainly a mystery still. _

_Loki whipped around again as he spotted a cloud of small birds fly in a chaotic clutter away, away, away into the endless forest. They must have flown from something. They must have adapted and evolved and gained a new way of hearing or of 'sensing' when something was near rather than just relying on their sight. _

_It was still only the first week of his time here on the Isle and he had yet to find a way of avoiding the trolls other than keeping an eye on the birds. The birds and the foxes and the deer always seemed to know. There was no night here in the Isle and the birds and foxes never seemed to rest or sleep and so Loki did not sleep either. If the animals didn't sleep and there was no visible difference in the lighting it was safe to assume the trolls didn't sleep either. It was going to be a long stay here in the Isle. _

_Loki took off following the birds, glancing behind him in frequent intervals waiting to see the beast crash into his line of sight. He jumped over fallen trees and ducked under heavy foliage, trying not to leave a visible trail that would encourage a pursuit from the brainless monsters. Not twenty minutes into the chase with the birds and the rest of the animals he glanced behind himself once again to see not only one but two of the giant creatures on his heels. Normally he would not have run: he would have turned and fought – decapitated the beasts with a wave of the hand – but he was powerless now. Odin had put a suppressing spell on his magic and he was unable to reach it. So he ran. _

_Two minutes more of running from the trolls and Loki glanced back again to see them nearly on top of him. He could practically smell their rancid breath, feel their spittle on his back, and he knew this was an exercise in futility._

_He planted his feet and turned to meet them. The abrupt change of momentum made the troll closest to him stumble and trip, crashing his giant pockmarked head into a tree trunk. The second, slightly shorter with thick white hair, ran past him as well but slowed enough to grab a tree and switch directions much more efficiently. Loki cast his eyes around desperately. There must be some sort of branch or rock his could use as a weapon. The white haired beast limped towards him in an awkward walk, its' face was twisted in an odd expression and Loki realized belatedly it was laughing at him as he nervously realized there was nothing for him here. The first troll finally pulled itself up and started lumbering towards him as well and Loki cast one, final, desperate look around before turning around so quickly he nearly fell himself and started sprinting again. _

_He hadn't gotten twenty paces before he felt a giant, calloused hand close around his ankle and –_

(…)

Loki jerked forward on his chair, gasping, and rubbed his eyes. He was fine. He was alive. He was on Midgard with the insufferable inventor while his brother was aboard the flying boat with The Son of Coul and Son of Fury. That was over now. He had his magic again and he could defend himself now. He would be ok again.

His punishment had been half of a century on the Isle of Silence and he had developed a new set of skills after surviving in such a harsh environment for so long. His hearing was supersensitive and even now, in the dead of night, Loki kept a protective spell cast around his ears to dampen the sound and noise of this world. His sense of smell, tactile touch, and eyesight had also heightened due to his forced heightened awareness. Every time he walked or teleported into a room he was immediately aware of everyone in it and what they were doing. Walking outside into the public had been sensory overload and borderline painful for him but he had gotten better and now knew to keep more spells around himself for protection. It had been five weeks out after his punishment and he still froze at every sudden movement.

Loki sighed and rubbed his eyes, staring out at the illuminated night. He liked sitting on his balcony far above the city and the noise where it was eerily quiet, reminiscent of the Isle, pierced only by songs of the birds – _the birds – _that flew infrequently this far up and into the city. He got up and paced towards the door teleporting to the communal kitchen, where the Avengers seem to congregate, before he reached it.

Immediately he knew no one was present and tread lightly to the cupboard to grab a tea bag while he quietly commanded the machines to boil water. The sound of the machines gliding smoothly to comply and the splatter of water filling the coffee pot scratched against his ears and he slid silently into a barstool next to the counter to wait for the water. He knew the second the archer padded into the room behind him and he froze, posture stiffening and breath paralyzed in his lungs before he corrected his bodies immediate reaction to the new presence and leaned against the counter once again. He knew the archer would speak, he would wait.

"Couldn't sleep?" The archer asked, too loudly for Loki.

"I don't do much of that," Loki half-whispered back as he turned to face him. He hadn't aged but a year or so due to the warps in space and time between all the dimensions of the Isle and of Yggdrasil where Midgard and Asgard resided.

The archer shrugged and headed towards the fridge from which he pulled a beer, "Why not?" he asked seemingly offhandedly. The archer had been the easiest to convince to let Loki stay on Midgard for a short while before any of the others had agreed – let alone Fury and the Council. Loki supposed it was because the archer knew that Loki was not alone in his mind either at the time. He supposed the archer was perceptive enough to tell that Loki was a puppet as well. What Loki had not known was that the archer had also seen a glimpse of Loki's brain as well and knew that Loki would never admit to being controlled that way. The archer hadn't given anyone the information that might have absolved Loki because he knew that Loki himself would rather take the punishment than admit he had been _weak. _For this Loki was grateful: he had told the All Father that yes, he had been tortured and coerced into the invasion but he had not and would not admit that he had allowed the filthy beings into his mind. If he had perhaps his sentence on the Isle would have been shorter but he wouldn't take such pity – not ever.

"I don't need as much as you do," he replied, easily covering his lies. While the statement was true there was another reason he never slept: he didn't know how anymore. He would daydream, coming so tortuously close to sleep when suddenly he would flash back into the Isle and there wouldn't be any sound. The very absence of noise jerked him out of his pseudo-sleep.

"Hm," the archer replied, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Loki grabbed a mug and fixed his tea before staring levelly back at the archer and teleporting back to his room. He didn't want to deal with that now. He didn't want to ever deal with it.

**HORSEMEN WHAT WHAT!**

"I swear Henley, that's all that happened," Daniel repeated. He was leaning against a counter in the kitchen with an icepack pressed against his eye and tiredly sighed. After Merritt had resignedly walked into his room without awakening the young magician Daniel had been left to carry the boy into the cabin and deposit him on the couch with Henley on his heels the whole way.

"Why did he explode like that?" Henley asked.

"I don't know, Henley, he was drunk off his ass. You can grill him tomorrow when he's hung over if you really want to, but warn me first – I don't want to be present for that," Daniel groused. He stood and started towards the stairs to get to his bed but Henley grabbed his elbow, turning him to face her.

"Will he be ok?" Henley asked. Her eyes were tender and for the first time in a long time Daniel saw love in her eyes. Not the love that grown men and women have but the love an older sister has for a younger brother: fiercely protective, but willing to chastise.

Daniel paused to memorize the look it gave her, the way her face shone as she worried about the youngest of the group, and then said, "Yeah, Reeves, he'll be alright."

**Special thanks to those who favorited and followed goes to: Only if, Glytter-Chan, superfangirl13, MissGracieKathy!**

**Meow: Thanks again for the review, lovey! And we will just have to deal with Jack next time because I was unable to get to him this time around. Sorry for the wait, bro!**

**MEEVA E: Thank you so much, petal! I'm glad you liked that chapter! Hopefully you also like this one. I like Loki and I will not apologize for that and that is why he featured in this one. I hope you can appreciate the need for this chapter!**

**D'AAAAWWWWW! Sweet little Danley at the end! AWWWW**! **Anyway keep the reviews coming, kimosabes! **

**Adios, muchachos!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'll just leave this here;)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Horsemen**

Merritt looked on at the situation happening in the living room and wanted to laugh – he almost did, but not quite. After a while Jack had eventually woken up on his own and trudged up to his room, causing enough racket on his way there that Henley had woken up as well. She had brought a glass of water and two Advil to his room and then left without a word. Apparently she was saving all she wanted to say for this moment.

Jack was sitting on the floor in front of the couch looking disheveled with one leg sprawled in front of him and the other tucked under his chin. He listened to Henley lecture him without saying a word. Through the lecture his eyes started drifting closed – probably due to the smashing hangover he still had – and Merritt was actually concerned the kid might just fall over.

"Are you listening to me at all?" Henley exclaimed loudly – too loudly for the hung-over – and grabbed Jack by the shoulders. "Why would leave without telling us?"

Jack stayed silent and watched a fixed point on the wall behind Henley, refusing to look at her. Merritt realized they had yet to inform Henley that this was apparently a repeat performance of Jack's. She didn't know he wasn't in the cabin half the time.

"Jack!" She growled, frustrated, giving him a firm shake.

Jack grimaced at the movement but Henley was unimpressed. "Why do you care?" Jack asked quietly. He regretted it the moment the words were out of his mouth but he couldn't take it back now. He was always cheerful around the other horsemen, always happy and smiling. He never let his mask slip and he had just said one of the sulkiest things he possibly could have to the biggest worrier of the group. "I'm sorry! Henley, I didn't mean it," he said quickly.

"Jack," Henley said, "why?"

Jack tried to pull together a smile, only partly succeeding, and looked Henley in the eye saying, "It was nothing, Henley, and I'm just really tired. It was nothing," he gave the most convincing laugh he could muster and said; "if I knew you'd be so worried I wouldn't have done it, mom."

Henley let go of Jack's shoulders and rocked back onto her heels, considering him. He had laughed and told her it was ok and he was sorry and it was _convincing._ Jack could see the moment she was convinced and let it go. He sighed internally in relief – or was it disappointment? – and said, "I really need to sleep."

"Alright," Henley said, resuming the elderly sister disposition, "Go back to sleep, you troublemaker."

Jack gave a halfhearted chuckle and trudged back up the stairs unsure if he was disappointed with her that she didn't see through his lies or disappointed with himself that, even now, he couldn't bring himself to confide in the people he had come to trust the most.

**FBI**

Dylan sat in his living room with Alma discussing whatever they wanted – _because they could._ She knew he was part of the Eye of Horus and they never told each other another lie. He still worked with the FBI and she still worked with Interpol – one must keep up appearances. They hadn't moved in together but they did spend a lot of time together when they weren't solving cases and Dylan wasn't on business for the Eye. Alma was very interested in the Eye and asked questions frequently. She knew she would never be a part of it – she simply wasn't a master of magic – and she had accepted it quickly enough and instead kept up with the Four Horsemen via Dylan.

After the horsemen had been relocated Dylan kept weekly phone call schedules with each of them to make sure everything was still going smoothly and to warn them of any FBI business concerning them. Alma had gone back to report to her boss after the case had been lost fearing that she would be immediately put back behind the desk, but after a glowing report of how helpful she had been and how she had been the one always catching onto their tricks when no one else had her boss had been placated. Alma, immediately after hearing about this report, confronted Dylan straight away of course but Dylan smirked and claimed innocence. Not that Alma was complaining – she still had the field job. They were happy.

Dylan smiled as Alma laughed at something witty he had said when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. "Just a minute," he said to her and opened his phone seeing it was his work calling. "Agent Rhodes," he said.

"Dylan, this is Michael," the agent answered. "We found the Horsemen. They're in Vermont. They're prepping a team now and want you at the base as soon as possible. They're giving the team the go ahead in thirty minutes. They're already in Vermont."

Dylan froze for a fraction of a second and then said, "Thank you Michael. Tell them I'll be there as soon as possible." He hung up his phone and turned to Alma with a grim look. There was no way he could get to Vermont from Washington D.C. in ten minutes and the best he could do was to give the magicians a call. "Shit."

**Hey guys, I'm really sorry for the short chapter! You guys can count on another chapter really soon!**

**Special thanks to those who favorited and followed this story: Contashas and starstruk97!**

**Guest: No problem, muchacho! You should get an account or log in or something! It's easier to track stories that way! Thanks for the review, petal, it means a lot!**

**MEEVA E: MEEEEEEEVAAAA! We happen to like a lot of the same things, my dear! That's so exciting! Thanks again for the review, love! And I'm not 100% sure but I'm fairly certain, perhaps 87% certain that Daniel will not be getting physically (note I only said physically) hurt in the next chapter (note I did not mention any future chapters) but somebody will be getting whumped so… I hope you enjoy, darling! Same message to you as to the guest: GET AN ACCOUNT! Then I can just PM you like I do all my other reviewers!**

**Stay frosty, my friends!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi. Uh this is another chapter and I hope you guys like it…I tried to make it good, I really did guys T.T inform me of your thoughts via a review.**

**Also I made Jack a total BAMF and like super ninja. Before you guys totally complain about it I would like to remind you we know literally nothing of his past and because this is my story I get total rights to making it up so… yeah thanks **

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own. **

**Horsemen**

"Come in," Daniel said without rolling over in his bed after a short three raps on his door woke him from his light dozing.

"Hey," Henley said quietly. She walked into the small bedroom holding an icepack and a relieved look on her face.

"Thanks," Daniel sighed as he reached for the icepack to replace the lukewarm one that sat on his bedside table. Jack had gotten him pretty good and he was developing a nice bruise on his cheekbone. Luckily enough he had turned away from the punch that would have landed him with a black eye and iced it soon enough that it wasn't turning the fun colors his cheek was. His stomach was still a little tender from the kick that had dropped him to the ground but he was otherwise unscathed. They had all known the kid was a talented fighter – why else would they leave the kid alone in that apartment to fight Dylan? – but Daniel was still surprised when he was on the receiving end of those fists.

"You look pitiful, Atlas," Henley said as she gracefully eased herself onto the edge of the bed.

Daniel gave her a withering look but it was only halfhearted and said, "Did you have your conversation with Jack?"

Henley growled and blew her red hair out of her face saying, "It would be a stretch to call it a conversation: I just lectured and he gave me puppy dog eyes. How was I supposed to keep yelling at him when he does that to me?"

Daniel laughed, the kid sure had Henley wrapped around his finger. "I suppose you don't."

"Well, since it was a first time offence I guess I can let it go this time," Henley continued with a small grin.

Daniel gave Henley a sidelong glance – Merritt hadn't informed her? Well he certainly wouldn't be keeping the kids' secrets, "Henley, you know the kid –"

Just then his cellphone started playing Law and Order's theme song – Dylan's ringtone.

"Hold on, just a sec – " Daniel said, searching for his phone in the mess that resembled the things known as 'beds'. "Dylan?" he said as soon as he found it.

"_Daniel – you guys need to leave. Like right now," _Dylan said in place of a greeting.

"Right now?" Daniel asked immediately and without question. "How far away are they?"

"_They're already there. They're going to storm the place in twenty five minutes."_

Daniel relayed the message to Henley who cursed loudly and ran out the room to tell the others, "A sooner warning would have been appreciated, man."

"_I just found out myself, ok? Just hurry up. Only take the essentials with you."_

"Where should we go?" Daniel asked, grabbing his jacket and pulling on thick socks and his shoes.

"_If you can get to the car start driving towards New York. If you can't just get out of there. Stay together!"_

"Ok can do. I'll call as soon as I can," Daniel said as he ran down to the living room where Henley was throwing things in a bag and shouting at Merritt to get moving.

"_Goodbye, Daniel."_

…

"Jack," Henley said as she shook his shoulder. He had gone straight to sleep after their talk and now she had to bring him back to the land of the living to go on the run with a raging hangover. "Jack, get up. We have to go now."

Jack rolled over in his bed and ignored the urgent magician shaking him awake.

"Jack, I'm not kidding! The FBI are going to be here in twenty minutes!" Henley said desperately as she shook him harder.

Jack's eyes flew open at the mention of the FBI. He hadn't been kidding when he said he was too young to go to prison back in the musty old apartment when they were still on the yearlong mission for the Eye. He was much, much too young. "I'm up, I'm up," he said as he sprung out of his bed, instantly grabbing the bedside table to steady himself. "Do we know where they are?"

"All that we know is that they're closing in in twenty minutes," Henley relayed quickly as she walked briskly out of his room to let him grab his essentials.

…

Dylan looked at the clock at the bottom of the computer screen he was looking at over some poor techies shoulder and masked his nervousness perfectly. Ten minutes. There was ten minutes before the inevitable shit storm.

He hoped the kids got out ok. He hadn't said it explicitly but he hoped that _someone_ in the group was intelligent enough to know that if they were storming the place in thirty minutes it would have to mean they would surround the house in less the fifteen. Surely someone in that damned cabin would realize that, right?

…

"What's the plan?" Henley asked as the Four Horsemen gathered in the living room, packed and ready to disappear. They still had ten minutes. They could afford to plan something out more intricate than simply 'run'.

Jack fidgeted with the drawstring on his back – the only thing beside his leather jacket he had grabbed – and looked to Daniel. Daniel, carrying a black duffel with _Atlas_ stenciled on it, glanced at Merritt and, in a flash of team cooperation, asked, "What do you think?"

"We won't be able to get the car," he answered matter-of-factly. He set his bag on the ground and walked over to the windows and peeked out the side of the tightly drawn curtains. His sharp eyes immediately picked up the changes in the forest behind the cabin. "They're already surrounding us."

"We need a distraction, then," Henley concluded, pulling her red hair into a ponytail and shoving it under a winter hat. If they had to run in the cold she figured she could sacrifice her hairdo this once for warmth. Besides, with her hair out of the way it was one less thing those agents could grab onto.

"What do you suggest, sweet pea?" Merritt asked. The Eye had assured them they couldn't be found here. They hadn't even prepared an escape plan.

"I think Jack should stay behind," Daniel said, knowing it would be an unpopular opinion but also knowing it was the right one.

He was right about the unpopularity, though, within milliseconds of the words coming out of his mouth Henley turned on him and growled, "Excuse me?"

"What?" Merritt asked, surprised as well at the suggestion.

"I mean –" Daniel began, only to be interrupted by Jack.

"That's actually a really good idea," he said. The advil hadn't quite kicked in yet but he could think straight enough to see where Daniel was going with this one. "Everyone still thinks I'm dead. It'll make them hesitate. That's all I need."

"No. Absolutely not," Henley said.

"We all know you're capable, Jack, but this is an entirely different situation," Merritt said, backing Henley up.

"I can do this guys," Jack reassured, "We don't really have time to argue about this anyways."

"We don't," Merritt agreed and looked over at Henley, unsure for once. "What are we supposed to do, then?"

"We go to Merritt's room," Daniel answered quickly. His brain was flying at a thousand miles a second, trying to find a foolproof way to get his team, his responsibility, his _friends _out of here safely. "His window faces the woods. Jack can distract them when they all come inside before they come upstairs. We jump out the window and meet up at the creek."

"And after?" Jack asked, completely unfazed he was staying to take care of the mess. "We need a ride and Dylan won't be able to get to us quickly enough."

With a bolt of inspiration Daniel pulled out his phone and said, "As soon as I reach the creek I'll call that SHIELD guy. If they can't help us we can just keep running until Dylan can get us. It's the best I can think of."

Merritt nodded, he still wasn't happy with leaving Jack behind to do the dirty work again but knew it was the most logical decision; the kid was the most experienced in that department.

Only Henley was still dissatisfied, "What is Jack supposed to do? Who knows how many men there are! What if he gets hurt?"

"Henley," Jack said grabbing her shoulders and looking her in the eye. "I won't have to take them all head on, I have my ways," he winked and handed her bag to her, "you have three minutes to get to Merritt's room. Give me three minutes and then I want you to jump out that window and start running. I'll meet up with you in another fifteen minutes. I promise. If anything happens I'll call."

"Jack," Henley whined. The other two Horsemen had already made their way upstairs, completely trusting the kid to take care of Henley's worries and to take care of himself.

"You have two minutes, Henley. I promise I'll be fine," he reassured her again, giving her a light push towards the stairs.

"Be careful, Jack," she said as she ran up the stairs.

…

"_We head in in one minute, stand by,"_ came the scratchy voice of the leader of the S.W.A.T. team leading the search of the house. _"Do not shoot unless attacked."_

Dylan briefly closed his eyes. _Don't shoot unless attacked._ Hopefully the Horsemen weren't planning on even letting the S.W.A.T. team see them at all let alone provoke them to violence.

"_Thirty seconds, boys."_

…

Jack sucked in a jittery breath. He wasn't quite nervous for the oncoming encounter, more excited and maybe a tad bit bitter. He knew that someone was going to get hurt in the coming fight. He just hoped no one would be killed. Jack had never killed someone before but had seen plenty of people die and knew all sorts of ways people died. He had used a gun before and, just like with his cards, had perfect aim. His plan was to acquire a gun through hand to hand combat from one of the first men in the house and incapacitate the rest of them before they caused too much trouble.

He knew they would be storming the house in a matter of seconds and stood right in the middle of the hall that connected the front door, the living room, the kitchen, the stairway to the second floor, and the back door. He figured men would come from both entrances and wanted to keep an eye on both to ensure none of them got upstairs.

Taking one more calming breath he picked up a paperweight that had been sitting on a small display table in the hall.

Jack waited and waited for what seemed like an eternity, when in reality it was just a few more seconds when both doors burst inward and men flowed into the room yelling things like "This is S.W.A.T."

"GET DOWN!"

"Take the living room!'

"Kitchen!"

When the first few men entered, though, the pandemonium stopped for a split second and Jack imagined that if he could see their eyes through their masks he would see shock, surprise, maybe even fear.

He took the second of stillness to throw the paperweight with accuracy and force towards the man closest to the stairway, hitting him in the neck just below the bullet proof helmet and visor combo, striking a good many nerves and blood vessels, dropping the man immediately. Immediately the men started scattering throughout the bottom floor of the cabin as Jack dove for the man that fell and wrenched the gun from his hand and crouching behind the half-wall on the stairway as bullets whizzed towards him, marking the walls and floor and making him wince as the noise made his headache worse.

Jack could tell by the pattern of the spray of bullets they weren't planning on actually shooting him – _yet _– and were just trying to scare him into surrendering. He couldn't do that. Not now, not when the team was depending on him.

He leaned the barest amount around the corner and gave off three shots making most of the men dive behind furniture and drop flat to the floor, unsure where he might be shooting and if he might be trying to shoot for their vitals. Jack breathed a sigh of relief when he saw three men drop their guns and curse or cry out as their hands started bleeding all over the floor from where they had been shot. Jack figured this was the best route to head down: if they were shot in the hands they couldn't shoot him and couldn't punch or grab him. Hopefully this would be enough to deter them.

"Shoot him!" he heard a man yell as he ducked behind the wall again. He heard the pain in the voice and realized it must have been someone he shot. The command in the voice told him it was also the person in charge. He breathed in again, waiting for another pause in the bullets to take a few more men down. The rest of the team should be out of the cabin by now.

**Dylan**

"_Shoot him!" _came the pain filled voice of the commander of the strike team. Dylan winced internally. "Him" could only be one person and he really, really wished they hadn't left the kid behind again. He knew firsthand what the kid could do but this was pushing the limits.

_Be safe, kid,_ he thought as the sounds of the firefight came screeching through the speaker once again.

**The Other Three Horsemen**

Daniel ran as fast as his legs could carry him and kept his eyes forward and on Henley. He insisted she run in front of him – he didn't want her slowing down or turning around for the kid. After the shots started ringing out he had almost had to physically restrain her from running back to the cabin but instead managed to convince her that there really wasn't anything she could do and that if there were still shots being fired it meant the kid was still alive and kicking.

After the first volley of shots tapered off Daniel saw not only Henley, but Merritt as well, stumble in fear. No sooner had the fear arisen then five more shots pierce the cold day that was slowly turning to night. This cycle continued a few more times and Daniel couldn't help but wonder where Jack had learned to fight like he did.

**Jack**

There were only two more men in the cabin left without bullets in their hands but Jack couldn't see them and instead risked running over to the man he had deduced was in charge here and dragged the man into a sitting position against a wall, closing a tight fist over his microphone that he knew connected to the vans further down the driveway where more FBI waited. He didn't want more people running into the house and was going to try something risky in order to stop it.

"You son of a bitch!" the commander moaned as he cradled his hands to his chest.

"You son of a bitch!" Jack mimicked. It was the same trick he used on Dylan back in the apartment and knew that Dylan might recognize it as him but no one else would. If a trick isn't broken don't fix it he figured.

"What the hell?" the man gasped, glaring at Jack.

"What the hell?" Jack parroted. He then punched the commander square in the face, hard enough to knock him out cold and grabbed the microphone, "It's all taken care of. We've got them."

He knew the rest of the men in the vans outside would start getting suspicious in seconds after he stopped responding but figured this would give him at least one – maybe two minutes to follow his fellow Horsemen into the woods.

Jack jumped up and glanced around at the men and took off towards the back door, closest to the woods. He wrenched another gun from a downed man to replace the one he had dropped, just in case, and sprinted towards the back door – completely forgetting about the other two men.

Jack wrenched open the door and took his first step to safety when a sharp crack of a gunshot quickly reminded him of the men he had so irresponsibly forgotten.

**The other three Horsemen**

They were almost to the creek and the shots from the cabin had quieted down and stopped altogether and Daniel refused to think anything but that Jack was on his way. When a final shot rang through the air and a shiver ran up Daniel's back he screeched to a stop and Henley turned as well, eyes wide.

Daniel shivered again. _The kid can take care of himself. The kid can take care of himself,_ he chanted to himself and then said aloud, "Keep going."

Henley looked just about ready to kill Daniel but nodded: the kid had _promised her _that he would be ok. He had promised.

**WAAAAAAAHHHHHH! CLIFFIEEE!**

**So this chapter goes out to the lovely Miss Emeralds because she will not have access to this story for a few weeks and asked I pump out an extra chapter real quick and who am I to deny her such a thing?**

**A special thanks goes to katewolf2000 for favoriting this story! Thanks girl!**

**MEEVA E: OOOOOHHHH! I'm so excited to read your story! You have no idea! You'll probably be marvelous, my dear! Thanks again for your continued support and reviewing! I know it means a lot to me!**

**Meow: Of course I'll continue! ;) and I'm thinking of having them kiss just not yet… And I was super disappointed too! **

**Goodbye my dear internet friends **


	9. Chapter 9

**So guys, I did a thing. A really weird thing. Read this chapter, be happy, be appalled, be joyous, be disgusted, be offended, be whatever you want to be but I kind of laughed while writing this chapter. Not because it's funny but because I knew that [this idea] never crossed anyone's mind before and it's kind of really out there. But I'm going to do it anyway. So.**

**Disclaimer: NYSM belongs to someone that is not me.**

**P.S. there is some Chinese words (according to google translate and I know that's not really accurate so sorry to those who actually speak Chinese here) in here so whenever you see Chinese pinyin I will put the translations in parenthesis near them.**

**Jacky boy**

The shot rang out and Jack knew, Jack knew before he felt it, that the bullet was coming for him. Jack dropped, but the speed of a bullet is much faster than most people think. Jack knew that already too. He knew he was going to get hit. He just hoped it wasn't going to be a vital shot.

**This is a flashback.**

"_Hey! Give that back!" a boy yelled angrily. The boy lashed out with a fist, nicking him on the cheek, causing him to stumble but he continued trying to run away with the boy's pocket change. "I said: give it back!" he yelled again, grabbing the other young boy's collar and pushing him up against the wall of the Laundromat. _

_Jack grunted as his head bounced off the brick wall but he kept a firm grip on the cash in his hand while his other hand scrabbled uselessly against the boy's hands around his jacket. When Jack realized he wouldn't be getting away so quickly he looked up into the boy's face. He had dark brown hair and almond shaped eyes, his mouth was set in a firm line. "Back off," he said, trying to sound threatening. _

"_Give my money back," the boy demanded again._

_Jack snarled at the boy and brought his knee up into the boy's crotch. Just as the other boy's hands started slackening around his neck another, older voice rang out in the out-of-the-way alleyway. "What's going on here, Chi?"_

_Jack whipped around, not sparing the boy on the ground cupping himself a single glance, and started running what he hoped was the opposite way of the older voice. Growing up he had learned rather quickly that you didn't ever want them to see your face – they could recognize you better that way. He ran down the alleyway and glanced behind him only to run right into the solid chest of the second, older voice. Jack looked up at the man and saw that he looked exactly like the younger boy – an older brother maybe? The man grabbed Jack's collar just as the young boy, now identified as Chi, had and asked again, "What's going on here?"_

_Jack shook his head fiercely and said, "Nothing."_

"_He took my money, Min!" Chi cried as he shakily got up from the ground._

_The man, now identified as Min, looked down at the boy in front of him and said, "It is not good to lie, boy."_

"_Let me go," Jack replied, trying to shake off the stronger man._

"_Where are your father and mother?" Min asked instead of complying._

"_He's from the street, Èr gē," the boy piped in. _**(second oldest brother)**

_Jack craned his neck to glare at the boy behind him and Min said, "No parents?"_

_Jack didn't answer him but kept trying to shake him and kept grumbling._

_Min looked at Chi and said, "Wǒmen jiāng wǒmen de fùqīn dài tā qù." _**(We will take him to our father)**

**Jacky boy**

When the impact of the bullet slammed into his right shoulder, only years of practicing self-control and the experience of having felt the pain of bullets previously kept him from crying out in pain. Henley might hear him. Henley might try running back for him. He couldn't let that happen.

_**Flashback wooooo**_

_Jack looked around himself warily as they walked through Chinatown and more and more people joined them as they continued their walk. He didn't have any idea what was going on, but he wasn't really scared. He didn't exactly have a lot to look forward to in his life and if they beat him up – or worse – it's not like he had anything to go back to._

_The young men and boys around him chattered to each other in a language he couldn't understand but easily deduced was Chinese as they lead him to what looked like any other building up and down the mega block of Chinatown. He couldn't make sense of the neon sign blaring Chinese characters attached to the three story building and was left still confused as the men and boys took him around the back and into the building, taking a sharp left and up two flights of stairs. _

_On the third floor, immediately off the stairs, was an archway with strands of dark, translucent green beads hanging to the dark hardwood floor. The boys dragged him through the beads and into what looked like a little sitting room with a low table. A woman who could have been fourteen or thirty held a little child in her lap and beckoned a little toddler over to her as the boys walked through the room, bowing respectfully as they entered the room. Jack walked through the beads obliviously and an older boy growled, "Nǐ bìxū dītóu, wǒmen de shūnǚ," smacking the backside of his head. _**(You must bow to the Lady)**

_Jack glared back at the boy, confused and frustrated. He had no idea what was going on. The boy that had smacked him rolled his eyes and roughly grabbed Jack's arm, dragging him across the room and into the next room._

_In the next room was a large desk made of the same dark wood that floored the room and seemed just as ancient. There were intricately carved chairs around the room and a large and detailed painting of an albino tiger and a peacock hanging on the back wall. Five men were in the room, one sitting behind the desk with another standing next to him and the remaining three lined before them. When the ensemble stumbled into the room with Jack in tow the man behind the desk stood and said in a stern voice, "Zhèlǐ fāshēngle shénme shì?" _**(What is going on/happening here?)**

"_Baba," Chi spoke up, "Zhège nánhái shìtú cóng wǒ zhèlǐ tōuqiè!" _**(this boy tried to steal from me!)**

"_Hé? Nǐ wèishéme yào gàosu wǒ zhège?" the man behind the desk thundered. He had dark brown hair – almost black – like the boys except his had two streaks of white racing back from the crown of his head to the tips at the nape of his neck. "Min, wèishéme nǐ bù chǔlǐ zhège?" _**(And? Why did you bring this to me/why did you bother me with this?) (Min, why didn't you deal with this?)**

_Jack was still thoroughly confused as the men and boys spoke to each other and he searched everyone's face trying to look for something that could tell him what was going on. The three men that had been standing before the desk now lined the side of the room with their hands folded behind them and stoic expressions on their faces while the men and boys who had followed him in were shifting nervously on their feet. Chi had called the old man behind the desk 'baba' which he assumed meant 'father' and was edging closer to the desk as they spoke. The young man, Min, answered the man in what could almost be called a pleading tone, "Baba, Zhège nánhái yǒu méiyǒu jiātíng, wǒ bùnéng líkāi tā zài dàjiē shàng." _** (Father, the boy has no home, I could not leave him on the street.)**

"_Min!" the old man glared at the young man. "Nǐ tài ruǎnle! Zhè jiùshì wèishéme nǐ gēgē jìchéng de yèwù, ér bùshì nǐ!" _**(Min! You are too soft! This is why your older brother**(his twin who is older)** will inherit [the business] and you will not.) **

_Jack couldn't be sure but he thought he saw Min flinch and then the old man shook his head and then looked at the man beside him, the three men lining the wall, and the other young men and boys behind Jack, "Suǒyǒu nǐ bìxū líkāi. Wǒ xiǎng yǔ wǒ de érzi hé Jiē lǎoshǔ shuōhuà."_ **(All of you must leave. I wish to speak with my sons and the street rat.)**

_Jack looked around in confusion as the people started filing out of the room and he started following but Min gripped his arm tightly to prevent him from leaving. "What is your name, boy?" the old man asked in heavily accented English._

"_Jack," he answered cautiously. _

"_Why did you take money from my youngest son?" He asked, eerily calm._

_Jack glanced over at the aforementioned son and saw him glaring at him and responded with a glare of his own. When he looked back at the man the man's face was still seemingly impassive and Jack wasn't sure what to do and simply said, "I need it."_

"_It is like I had said, father," Min said, "I could not leave him."_

_A quick glare sent Min's way silenced him quickly and the old man said, "Líkāi tā zài xiàngzi lǐ." _**(leave him in the alley)**

_Jack glanced around, confused when the man started speaking Chinese again, and saw Chi grinning manically and Min with a defiant look in his eye. "Baba!" _**(father!)**

"_Bùyào gēn wǒ zhēngbiàn, érzi!" the old man hissed as he spared a disgusted glance in Jack's direction which left him feeling offended. _**(do not argue with me, son!)**

"_Tā bù huì shì yǒu quán líkāi tā zài nàlǐ! Tā kěnéng shì yǒuyòng de, baba" Min replied quickly in what could have sounded exasperated or pleading if Jack had any idea what they were saying. _**(It would not be right to leave him out there! He could be/become useful, father.)**

**Jacky boy**

Jack grunted and rolled over in the snow covered ground, grateful that he had though to grab another gun, and shot the last two offending agents before they could shoot him again.

After making sure the agents were down he turned and sprinted into the woods. His shoulder ached like it was on fire and Jack felt his eyes sting as he held back cries of pain.

Feeling the wound and the blood that was seeping to the ground he quickly ripped his shirt into strips as he ran and tried wrapping his should himself as he kept running. He couldn't use his jacket because it was leather and he was running out of time. He had to make do with what he had.

**Back to the flashback except this is a different time.**

"_Zàicì!" Fai, Min and Chi's older brother, demanded when Jack was knocked to the ground once again. _**(again!)**

_Jack shook his head in an attempt to clear it as he pushed himself up from the mat to try and beat Fai once again. It had been two years since he tried stealing from Chi and since then he had spent his time with the three brothers learning Chinese and Wing Chun, a type of Chinese martial arts which was what the bottom floor of the three story building turned out to be: and Wing Chun studio. He was getting very good, but he was still young._

"_Zàicì!" Fai demanded for the hundredth time that day. _**(again!)**

_After the first year with the boys Jack could now fluently speak, write, and read Chinese and Xiānshēng Ru decided it would be worth it to put Jack in school so he could learn more and become smarter, more _resourceful_, as he had put it. _**(Mister Ru)**

"_Zàicì!" Fai said once again as Jack crashed into the mat _again.

_Jack tried, he really did, and just as he was dragging himself to his knees Min walked into the room and said, "Zúgòule, gege!" _**(enough, older brother!)**

"_Zhè méiguānxì, Min! Wǒ néng zuò dào zhè yīdiǎn," Jack spat out determined. He stood up again to face the young man in front of him and fight again. Disregarding the fact that Fai was nearly twenty years old and had fifteen years of experience while Jack was a measly twelve year old with barely two years' experience under his belt. He wouldn't back down. He was finding something here that he didn't have anywhere else and he was going to fight for it. _**(It's ok, Min! I can do this.)**

**Jacky Boy**

Jack ran as quickly as he could, trying to suppress his groans as his shoulder screamed at him in pain. All he had to do was get to the creek. He had to believe that Daniel had some sort of plan. He had to believe that Daniel could get them out of this. As soon as he got to the creek he could pass out, but _not now!_

**Flashback, different time again.**

_Jack wasn't stupid. He was actually very observant. He knew what went on around him. He knew that Mr. Ru was part of one of the Chinese gangs. He figured he must be pretty powerful: there were hundreds of people under him and who reported to him. Jack had never seen any kind of gang violence near the Wing Chun studio which he assumed was the base of operations which told him the other gangs respected Mr. Ru's territory and didn't challenge it. _

_This is why it surprised him one fall night three years after his arrival when three men burst into the studio sputtering nearly incoherently of how _someone had jumped Fai_ and they didn't know where he was. _

_Mr. Ru had been furious. He had jumped up from his desk and thundered furiously at the men to wait by the door. There would be a ransom Mr. Ru had said. _

_Jack had turned to Chi, who had been sitting beside him outside of Mr. Ru's office and asked, "Tāmen zěnme shèfǎ bǔzhuō Fai? Tā shì zuì hǎo de zhàndòujī zhī yī?" _**(How did they manage to capture Fai? He is one of the best fighters)**

_Chi was glaring at the ground and answered in a low voice, "Tāmen kěndìng zuòle shǒujiǎo. Tāmen bìxū yòng yī bǎ qiāng qù shānghài tā." _**(They must have cheated. They must have used a gun to hurt him.)**

_Jack nodded. He knew all about guns. Mr. Ru had demanded that his sons must learn how to use guns as well as their bodies in a fight because he knew the world did not fight with just their hands and feet. He said they needed that extra measure of protection and because Jack was always with the boys he had learned as well. He, it turned out, was a very good shot. _

_What seemed like ages later there was a request for a ransom in the form of a young boy dressed in red. _

"_Zhè shì shénme, nánhái?" Mr. Ru demanded. _**(What is it, boy?)**

"_Wǒ de zhǔrén xīwàng chéngshì jiēqū 28 hé 29. Wǒ zhǔrén yào 30000 měiyuán. Wǒ de zhǔrén xīwàng míngtiān de qián, zài gōngjiāo chē zhàn zài chéngshì jiēqū 32," the boy replied in a rehearsed manner. _**(My master wants city block twenty eight and tweny nine. My master wants thirty thousand dollars. My master wants the money tomorrow at the bus stop on city block thirty two.)**

"_Mǎshàng líkāi!" Mr. Ru roared. _**(leave immediately!)**

_After the boy was out of the building Mr. Ru growled for his best fighters to enter his office. Some were young, some were older and more experienced but what surprised them all was when Mr. Ru gripped Jack's shoulder and hissed, "Shíjiān lái zhuàn qǔ zìjǐ de shēnghuófèi."_ **(Time to earn your keep.)**

_That night had been the first time he had ever been thrust into gang business. It was certainly not the last, either. After Fai was returned more or less in one piece without the ransom being paid Jack was sent on more transactions and gang matters. He was getting more involved than even Chi had ever been and soon was sent on his own clandestine missions for Mr. Ru. _

_It was on one of these missions a year after recovering Fai that Jack first saw street magic. It was a scruffy looking man that must have been around Fai's age. He charmed the crowd with his smile and his shifty hands. Jack saw each sleight of hand for what it was – he already knew all about sleights of hand – but was charmed nonetheless. When the magician, J. Daniel Atlas as he had loudly declared to the crowd, was dispersing the crowd Jack brushed past him and gently lifted a pack of cards from his pocket. He could learn how to do that too. He could be as charming as this Atlas guy. _

**Phil Coulson**

"_Hey Agent, it's been too long," _a voice that sounded forced said from the opposite end of the phone. Coulson looked at his phone and then brought it back to his ear just in time to hear the person say, _"Listen Agent, we've been thinking: why not move our meeting up to today?"_

"How did you get this number?" Coulson asked in lieu of an answer.

"_You know what, Agent? I will tell you all about that later. This is J. Daniel Atlas, by the way," _the voice panted from the other side.

"Are you running or something?" Coulson asked but quickly pieced it together. The only reason Atlas would call him whilst running would be because he was running _from _something. "Never mind. Where are you?"

On the other side of the call there was a few pants and then, _"Morrisson Creek just east of Mead Hill Road. We will be at the creek immediately east of this small, out of the way town called Kripke. Can you find us?"_

"We can find you," Coulson confirmed.

"_How l-long?' _came the out of breath question.

"Give us two hours," Coulson replied, already feeding the information to Maria Hill.

"_Hurry."_

**Daniel, Henley, and Merritt.**

The three had spread themselves across the creek just enough that they could see each other in an effort to give Jack a larger area for him to stumble to. Daniel was still repeating his calming mantra that the kid could take care of himself. Henley had slipped into nervous state of shock. She was very pale and shivering, whether it be from the cold or from fear for Jack Daniel couldn't tell.

Merritt was the first to hear Jack coming, however, and called for the other two to come over. They scanned the tree line for the boy as they waited nervously. After what seemed like hours but was only a minute or so Jack stumbled onto the creek bed.

"Jack!" Henley cried out in relief, running to hug him. As she ran towards him Daniel thought he saw something a little off about the kid but brushed the thought away with relief of the kid even being alive.

The relief was short lived and just as Henley reached Jack she let out a small screech as Jack's eyes rolled back into his head and he stumbled, face first, to the ground, blood seeping into the white snow around him.

**WOOOOAAAHHH! WHAT A CRAPPY CHAPTER! Say it. I know you want to. I'm even slightly confused and I wrote it. Tell me what you think of this crazy crazy chapter – even if it's a flame because I totally understand if there's a flame towards this wacky thing. **

**But anywho**

**Special thanks to those who favorited and followed: Reading nerd, Tinha, MockingxxJay!**

**Guest: Thanks, doll! And here is the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 10

**So hey guys. Let's do this, I suppose. That last chapter, though I could actually continue on in that path and make that a complete other story, is not really connected to this story at all other than to explain how Jack had those badass skills. After this story is done I'm thinking of writing individual stories for each character giving a little background and whatnot. That would be cool! If you actually read these author notes tell me if you would read those. They won't be crossovers, though.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avengers, Now You See Me, or any of the characters therein. **

**Dylan and the Techies**

"_It's all taken care of, we've got them," _the voice of the commander rang through the small van causing the techies to murmur small exclamations of relief and success while Agent Fuller breathed out, "I don't believe it," beside Dylan.

Dylan cocked his head to one side, considering. Not ten minutes ago the head agent in the cabin had been shouting to '_shoot him!'_ in a voice that said he had been injured and now they had the whole situation under control? Dylan didn't think so. There was something going on here and that could only mean the Horsemen had pulled another flawless trick.

As soon as the techies and everyone had gotten themselves under control again Dylan said into the microphone, "Thank you, agent, bring them out. We will position men outside the door."

After two beats of silence and a confused glance from Agent Fuller Dylan said again, "Agent, bring the Horsemen out the front door."

Again, after a few seconds of silence the techie directly in front of Dylan said, "I can't find anything that would be wrong with the microphone on his end. It _should _be working."

Dylan nodded and tried one last time, knowing full well that Jack must have mimicked the voice of the agent, "Answer me, agent," appearances are everything.

At the same time the words left his mouth another shot pierced the cold winter air causing the techies and Agent Fuller to jump and Dylan to wince, anticipating an injured Horseman. Two shots quickly followed the first and Dylan, having to keep up the appearance of a competent FBI agent said, "Send more men in there."

**The Horsemen**

"Jack!" Henley screeched as she kneeled in front of the bleeding boy. She lifted shaky hands to touch him or roll him over but couldn't seem to cross the last few inches of space between her and the boy.

Daniel rushed forward and knelt beside Jack to roll him over. He didn't know much about bullet wounds – hell; he didn't know anything about bullet wounds. Daniel batted Henley's shaky hands out of the way and grabbed Jack's shoulders. Even though he didn't know anything instincts seemed to win over and he knew he had to get the kid to wake up and stay awake.

Merritt's sharp eyes caught sight of the blood before the boy even fell to the ground but now he really couldn't do anything for the boy as Daniel and Henley crowded him and tried taking care of him in any way they could.

"Give me your phone, Daniel," Merritt said concisely.

Daniel craned his head to look back and up at the older magician but quickly complied. He wouldn't question the man. Instead he turned back to the young magician in front of him and gave him a firm shake simply saying, "Jack."

"Is he even alive?" Henley asked quietly once she got her thoughts in a semblance of order again.

Daniel shook his head: of course the kid was alive. Daniel had never thought, not once, that any of the Horsemen would die. Even with all the danger in their jobs it was only supposed to be danger of getting arrested. Getting killed had never once factored into the equation for Daniel and that inability to foresee such a problem made Daniel angry and frustrated.

Nonetheless Daniel quickly put a hand to the kid's carotid artery in his neck to feel for the kid's pulse. Daniel caught a hitched breath in his throat as he waited for what seemed to be too long but finally – finally – a pulse could be felt. It was slow – but definitely there. "He's alive," Daniel stated shortly as he quickly revamped his attempts at getting the kid to wake up.

**Coulson**

Coulson stood by the cockpit of the jet that was flying towards the supposed location of the Horsemen and continually scanned the horizon. He had heard the barely concealed urgency in the voice of Atlas and found it affected him. Even after years of experience and training he still got anxious whenever he went into the field.

He scanned the horizon for the hundredth time knowing full well it wouldn't make them move any faster but wished it would. After the hundred-and-first time scanning the horizon he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. Plucking it out of his breast pocket he saw the same number that Atlas had called from and flipped it open immediately.

"We're on our way," Coulson greeted.

"_How much farther?" _came a voice that was decidedly not J. Daniel Atlas.

"Approximately an hour and fifteen minutes," Coulson returned.

"_Can you make it any faster?" _the voice asked. It was gruff and sounded anxious. In the background of the call a gasp could be heard followed closely by a muffled conversation.

"Have you changed your location?" Coulson asked instead of answering the question.

"_No. Are you bringing a doctor? Or a first aid kit?" _the man on the line asked. Coulson quickly pieced the urgency of the previous and present call and the questions together surmising some serious injury had come to one of the members of the Horsemen.

Coulson turned to the men in the jet and asked – because he hadn't made sure in their hasty departure – if any of them had first aid training. A man nearest him nodded and said, "I'm a medic, Ms. Hill put me onboard."

Coulson nodded in return, eternally grateful to the quick minded Agent Hill and answered, "Yes, we have a medic onboard."

"_Great but as I asked before: can you move your asses any faster than an hour and fifteen minutes?" _the man asked sharply.

"I'll see what I can do. Don't move," Coulson said before hanging up.

**The Horsemen**

Jack gasped back into the waking world and immediately had to fight the urge of curling into himself on his shoulder. He knew from experience he would probably do better if he just stayed still. Instead he clutched at the ground beside him and choked on his breath, staring at the fuzzy faces of Daniel and Henley above him.

"Jack!" Henley said as she moved to kneel beside him, mirroring Daniel. Jack felt her gloved hand close around his and he held on tight. He never really had someone to hold tight to when he was hurt like this before.

"Henley, help me up," he choked out.

"What? No!" Daniel said quickly putting his hands on his chest, holding him down.

"Daniel!" Jack groaned as his shoulder screamed for attention. "Listen to me: I need to retie my shoulder and then we have to keep m-moving or h-hide," he stuttered from the pain and from the cold.

Daniel's eyes narrowed as he gauged the boy's paling face and finally helped him up. The kid was right, no matter how badly Daniel wanted to control this situation he simply didn't know how, and they had to move.

**Sorry guys, sucky chapter is sucky but I didn't have a lot of time to work on this one! Sorry! Also I probs won't update for like a week and a half or so because I'm going to be in the uncharted area of 'no internet connection'. What is life.**

**Thanks so much for those who favorited and followed this story: X-Pink-Cherry-Blossom-X! **

**Hey Meow: lol ok: so I did this crazy thing where I took Chinese as an elective one year and baba is literally the familiar term of 'father' kind of like 'dad' in English. So yeah it's kind of adorable. Also I feel like this chapter really isn't worth your praise. It's rushed and awful but I felt like I had to pump out a quicky chapter before I left for vacation and abandoned you cuties. So I'm really sorry if it's not up to par with my usually standard :/**

**In response to your request for more focus on other characters I just have to explain you a quick thing: as soon as I start school again for the year I won't have a lot of time to write and therefore want to be done with this multichapter story before that happens. When I get back into school I will continue to write but will be writing one shots instead. When this story is don't I will, as stated previously, will probably do oneshots for each character but this story did end up kind of focusing on Jack more. I will probably now try and change that now that you've voiced your opinion once again (which I'm eternally thankful for, dear). Thanks for the review, petal!**

**Deuces, kids**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay guys, guys, guys Guys GUYS! School, for me, starts in four days! FOUR DAYS! So that means I'm going to try and put out a bunch of chapters really quickly right in a row to finish the story before the inevitable "School Pause" in which posts become so infrequent people begin to hate me and I just cry and attempt to apologize. So get ready guys.**

**Also, my vacation was lovely but so hot I couldn't even sleep no joke.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything really.**

**Dylan Rhodes**

"Send the rest of the men in," Dylan thundered through the microphone over the techies shoulder. He was much too far away to really do anything to help the Horsemen while here at the Washington D.C. FBI base and was resigned to the fact he would have to wait until later to try and contact the magicians.

Instead he focused his energies on convincingly acting as the FBI agent Dylan Rhodes not the Eye of Horus Dylan Rhodes. He was good at that: acting, that is. He often joked with his fellow Eye members that he really should have been an actor, not a magician. He had performed so beautifully even Merritt, the mentalist, had been convinced he was just the FBI agent out to get them. He just had to keep on acting until he could help the Horsemen later.

"_Yes sir,"_ came the quick reply of one of the remaining S.W.A.T. members in the vehicles by the cabin in Vermont.

There was a pause as the men trooped towards the cabin and Dylan shared a look filled with disbelief, frustration, and confusion with Agent Fuller. Dylan knew the Horsemen were gone by now, he just hoped it would be effective enough that the SWAT team wouldn't be able to follow them – he really was in no position to be helping them right now.

"_Uh, sir," _the same SWAT agent said, interrupting Dylan's train of thought, _"we have a problem."_

Dylan's mind seized and all he could think over and over was, _'God, Jack didn't kill all those men, did he?"_

Luckily enough, Agent Fuller answered for him and simply asked, "What is it?"

"_The men, sir," _the agent said slowly, _"They're _all _down. Shots to the _hands_."_

Out of the corner of his eye Dylan saw Agent Fuller flinch and he himself flinched. Shots to the hands. Dylan pulled himself together quickly enough and said, "Are they in the area? Find them, quickly!"

After a quick 'yessir' there was a short pause as the remaining SWAT members searched the house and returned to Dylan that they had come up empty but there was a visible trail outside the house into the woods.

Dylan considered whether it would be acceptable for FBI Dylan Rhodes to tell the men the leave the Horsemen and help the injured SWAT. It would be getting dark where they were and the remaining men probably wouldn't have very much luck following fugitives into unknown areas in the growing darkness.

Quickly Dylan decided it would be worth the risk and said with a loud, and faked, growl, "Leave them for now. Help the wounded.

**Merritt**

"Then we have to keep m-moving or h-hide," the kid stuttered as he shivered from the cold.

Merritt shook his head and said, "You can retie your shit and we can try and hide behind some bushes or something but we can't move. We've got a ride but they're coming _here." _

Jack stared up at Merritt as if assessing him before finally, after looking him up and down, agreed with a quick nod of the head. He held his hand out to Daniel in a silent request to be helped up and Daniel bent down to grab his hand and elbow as to give the most support and minimize the jostling done to the bullet wound.

"Where to?" he asked as he grimaced and wobbled where he stood.

Daniel looked right away at Merritt, giving control to another member of the team for the second time that day, relying on the man's sharp eyes. Merritt looked around their environment to see what could be done, already subconsciously knowing it certainly would be a feat of magic to hide here in this open setting with their footprints – and now Jack's blood – all over the deep snow. The forest was an old one so most of the trees were thick and tall but they grew far apart and small, clingy trees with vines that grabbed at your head and clothes and _neck _grew in the spaces in between, growing quickly and dying quickly from lack of water as the larger, older trees sucked up most of the water. The snow was so thick they couldn't successfully wipe away their footprints but the creek was frozen over well enough they could cross it if need be. There really wasn't anywhere _to _hide.

"Across the creek," he eventually decided, "We can set you and Henley behind one of the larger trees, giving you an immediate shield or line of defense, and Daniel and I will stay in front. Our trail is too obvious – it wouldn't really do any good for us all to hide."

Jack eyed the river critically, knowing it would be slippery as hell to cross, but nodded once again in agreement with Merritt's assessment of the situation. There wasn't much to be done.

…

Jack held in another gasp as Henley finally – _finally – _gripped both ends of his make shift band aid and pulled tight. He knew it had to be done and was grateful Henley had been able to keep herself together long enough to let him talk her through patching him up. The whole time she had been apologizing for his pain and muttering over and over that she thought he was losing too much blood. He couldn't help but to agree but didn't say it out loud. He didn't want Henley to have a full blown panic attack.

"Done," Henley sighed in a voice denoting she was more relieved by the fact than he was. "I'm sorry Jack, I'm so sorry," she repeated.

Jack shook his head in an attempt to convey that she didn't need to be sorry. This wasn't her fault. _This wasn't her fault. _But he could hardly hold his head up to do that. He did lose a lot of blood and was starting to see those little floating, black dots and the streaks of color that suggested he sleep before his body forced him unconscious. But who listens to physical warnings anyway? Fun fact: not Jack Wilder.

Just as his eyes started slipping closed with Henley repeating his name over and over, begging him to stay awake, he heard Merritt call out - no longer concerned about the FBI, "Do you hear that? It's a jet."

A jet?

Jack couldn't remember having a jet at their disposal.

And that was the last thought he had before the floating dots and streaking color burst into beautiful starbursts and black holes, imitating the cosmos he loved to stare at endlessly, swallowed up his vision and he heard Henley repeating his name like a comforting mantra.

**Coulson**

"Do you see the cabin? FBI?" Coulson asked as they flew toward the cabin using the coordinates given to them by Maria Hill. She had also done a helpful search and using satellite pictures found that the driveway leading to the cabin was long enough wide enough to accommodate the jet. They would have to find the Horsemen by foot and night vision but this also gave them a chance to ward off the FBI if they were still hanging around.

"I see the driveway," the pilot answered steadily. Coulson glanced at the pilot and back into the dark outside. He couldn't see it. How on earth was she going to land the damn thing?

"Can you land?" _without killing us?_ Was implied but not said.

The woman scoffed and said, "Of course I can."

Coulson held up his hands in surrender: if she said she could do it he would just have to trust her.

"I would suggest that you sit down and buckle up, though," she said as she started flipping controls and spoke into her headset, informing the rest of the agents onboard to prepare for landing.

Coulson complied quickly enough and she brought the jet down, it was rough and the she hummed tunelessly to herself as she navigated down the relatively straight driveway in the dark. As soon as they had come to a complete stand still and the agents were filing out the pilot put a hand on Coulson's arm and asked, "Keep her running?"

Coulson considered, not knowing how far away the magicians were and not knowing how urgent they might need better medical attention than they could presently offer. Finally he said, "Keep her running," as he, too, walked out of the jet into the night.

**Merritt**

"He won't wake up," Henley whispered again.

Merritt could see Daniel look back at Henley and he saw sympathy, worry, and _something_ else pass through his eyes when he looked at her. Even though it was fully dark now the moon and stars shone brightly and reflected off the snow and ice, making it an unusually bright night. It had been about forty five minutes from when Henley had called out to himself and Daniel, worry clear as day in her voice as she said that Jack wasn't responding anymore.

There was nothing to be done any more for the kid. He had held himself together incredibly well while redressing his bullet wound but none present really knew much about bullet wounds and certainly didn't know how to treat them. Merritt supposed the kid had passed out from blood loss and figured there really wasn't much to be done. He didn't like it, he wasn't happy about it, but he saw the situation as it really was and knew he was incapable of doing anything else to help.

"Go talk to her," he said to Daniel. The man hadn't stopped glancing back at Henley and the kid for the past twenty minutes and Merritt knew he would feel better by Henley.

For all their arguing and all their fighting and disagreements Merritt could see they really had something. For a long time he had been convinced that that something was just their history. They had known each other for so long they _couldn't _be with anyone else: they always had to be at each other's throats, they had to question each other's decisions, they needed each other – and Merritt put it off as History. They'd known each other for so long, they'd worked together so long that they almost didn't know how to work with anybody else and until now Merritt and shoved it off as simply history. It took him a while – and a life-threatening situation, apparently – to see what they themselves couldn't: they loved each other.

**Daniel**

"Go talk to her," Merritt said, no doubt noticing him glancing at Henley once again. For all his control and all his illusions of control he couldn't even keep his eyes from wandering back to her.

Daniel headed back to kneel beside her with a short nod at Merritt. He cleared an area beside her with his foot and knelt down, eye-level with the distressed woman.

"What are we doing, Danny?" she murmured. She stroked Jack's hair, now slick with sweat. Daniel knew she wasn't a weak woman – hell, she had put up with him for a long time when she worked as his assistant – but she loved Jack in a way that if he died Daniel wouldn't be surprised if Henley quickly followed from heartbreak.

"I…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He was never good at comforting people. He didn't have control of this situation. None of them did and it was driving him crazy. He needed to be in control here: he needed to fix Jack so they wouldn't lose a very important member of the Horsemen, he needed Jack to wake up so Henley wouldn't be so devastated, he needed that Coulson guy to get here quicker, he needed control. But he couldn't control any of that. No one could. He didn't know how to deal with a situation he wasn't in control of and maybe Henley knew that – well, of course she knew: she knew him better than anyone – and maybe that's why Henley somehow managed to rip her gaze from Jack long enough to lay a hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"I don't know what to do," he finally admitted.

"Neither do I," she quietly confided.

**Merritt**

Fifteen minutes after Daniel had walked back to be with Henley and help watch over Jack Merritt heard them: the people that Coulson guy had promised would be coming. He couldn't see them yet but knew things would move along a little faster if he made himself known. There was no doubt in his mind that this was Coulson – the FBI must have left hours ago – and he walked undeterred by the potential danger towards the creek, out from under the dark tree.

Before he stepped out into the brighter area by the creek he glanced back and saw Henley leaning against Daniel, his arm wrapped around her shoulders and her hands enclosing Jack's.

"They're coming," he half-whispered to them and waited until Daniel nodded, acknowledging him, to step out from underneath the large shadow the tree cast in the bright moonlight.

Soon enough nine men emerged from the gloom and Merritt stepped forward, not crossing the creek, but putting up his hands in a gesture of goodwill and said, "An hour and fifteen minutes right on the nose and yet I'm still wondering if you could have moved faster."

"We moved as quickly as possible," one man said as he stepped forward from the line of men. Merritt immediately recognized the voice as Coulson.

"Are you arresting us?" He asked bluntly. He didn't really have time to waste beating around the bush or stupid tricks and lies about 'just wanting to talk'. He needed to see the truth in the man's eyes when he answered him.

Coulson looked directly at Merritt when he answered, "We are not here to arrest you."

Merritt could tell the man wasn't lying but he also knew that that simple sentence had so many loopholes and left so many other options out in the open that the possibilities of what he _really _wanted were innumerable. But Merritt didn't have time to consider all those options: the youngest magician was slowly bleeding out and they were all slowly getting frostbite as none of them had thought to grab gloves or extra jackets and Jack now only had his leather jacket as protection from the cold because his shirt served as his bandage.

So Merritt simply nodded and said, "We need the doctor over here," motioning behind the tree," he's been shot."

At the simple admission of needing a doctor it seemed like the standstill they had been stuck in finally broke and the men carefully crossed the creek, helping the Horsemen up and out of the woods, two men carrying the youngest and the rest wrapping them in thick, plain blankets they must have had in packs. Henley protested loudly at being separated from Jack and even stomped on one of the men's feet with her heel before Daniel quietly convinced her it would be best if she just let the men carry Jack.

It was a longer walk back then the Horsemen remembered running and several times when the journey back to the jet got rough a small but hoarse gasp could be heard from the youngest magician and each time Daniel felt Henley flinch as they walked with his arm around her shoulders. But now that Daniel knew _someone _was in charge of the situation he felt a little better and could now focus on figuring out how to 'comfort' Henley.

**Dylan**

Dylan sighed as he walked back into his house and hung his coat by the door. It had been a long night: after the Horsemen got away once again the higher ups had been furious and Dylan had barely escaped _that _particular meeting alive. Internally he was relieved the kids got away but he had to keep appearances and yelled and pounded his fist into the meeting table as would be expected of a frustrated FBI agent after losing a trail once again. He played the part well, but now he was home and was left to worry about the kids.

He had done everything he could to give them an edge to get away but now he just wished he could do more.

He hadn't lied when he said the Eye of Horus would show and teach them real magic but in truth they didn't have a lot of real magic left. The sorcerer or mage who had started this whole thing had given them some magic and now, years and years later, it was almost gone. Dylan himself had never met the sorcerer who started it all and doubted he ever would but he was feeling a bit like maybe the sorcerer was dead or he just didn't care about them anymore. It had been thousands of years since the Sorcerer had last come to see the Eye and what they had done and accomplished. He was needed once again and very soon if they were to continue with the Eye.

Unfortunately there was no one alive who knew who or what the Sorcerer even looked like. There were descriptions and stories and lore passed on through the generations of the Eye but really they didn't have a clue. The lore did say that the Sorcerer was not from Earth and that magic does not naturally occur on Earth, that the only way to continue with the Eye was if the Sorcerer came back and finished what he started here.

There wasn't even enough magic left for Dylan to help the Horsemen escape and instead had to rely upon his FBI cover to help and it wasn't really enough anymore. Dylan was starting to doubt the Sorcerer cared about them. Perhaps he had even forgotten about them.

Whatever had happened to the Sorcerer and wherever he or she was now they were alone and they had to deal with their own problems.

So Dylan picked up the phone and rang Daniel.

**YAAAYYY another chapter! I hope you guys liiiiiiike it!**

**So WHOA! CHARACTER ARC WITH DANNY WHAT WHAT! **

**Special thanks to all of you who favorited and followed: Gleek221, EddyxMarvoloxRiddle, InvisibleNinja333, Akage987, LiraBlair, hazymorning, Narmara, auPHE, siriusly not interested, Anonymous Perspective, animalkid99! Thanks guys! That's a lot from last chapter! What happened?**

**MME: I'm glad you loved that movie! It's so great! *hearteyes* And thank you so much for reading this crossover and then reviewing! It seriously mean so much, nonnie! Unfortunately this story will not have much pairing except Danley. Jack will not be getting any loving in this fic but as I did say in my author note last chapter I will be writing one shots for each of the Horsemen and that will probably be when Jack will get some loving ;D And his oneshot will also probably be very similar to the backstory in this multichapter fic tho it will be a little different and explore his childhood previous to and a little after as well. Hopefully that's not too disappointing! Thanks again, nonnie! Xoxo**

**Meow: thanks for reviewing, doll! And you know what? I'm actually that freak who absolutely, wholeheartedly loves school. Even on the last day I'm still like, "YEAH SCHOOL!" lol so… Also I found out when I write best! AT ONE IN THE MORNING. So. That was a new experience. Thanks again for the review, dollface! Xoxoxo**

**Adios you little Horsemen!**


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